But I Know
by singsongsung
Summary: Rory. Logan. A new kid on campus, a lost love, an undeniable attraction, and the desire to hold on to what is familiar.
1. Meeting

**A/N: **I have completely and totally lost my mind, but I'm running with it. I am doing two things I never thought I'd do. I'm writing a crossover. And I'm writing a story with actual chapters. Crazy, right?

I love Gilmore Girls, but lately I've become incredibly obsessed One Tree Hill, and I'm putting them together. It's insane, but here it is. I think it's possible to enjoy as a fan of OTH or GG, but it is of course better if you're into both. I'm posting it as a story under each label, anyway, because I want to, and because I can.

As of now, Rory Gilmore (21), Logan Huntzberger (22), and Lucas Scott (21) are the main characters, but it's not really your typical love triangle story. Others will appear over time. I have a direction, I promise. I do, and I'm pretty damn determined to get there.

_Background GG Info_: Mid season six. Lorelai is engaged to Luke Danes, who is postponing their wedding because he just learned of the existence of his twelve-year-old daughter, April. Rory's friend, Paris, has kicked her out of the apartment they shared and she is now living with her boyfriend of about a year, Logan. Exactly what was happening on the show at the time.

_Background OTH_: I've taken a little more liberty here. Everything up until season four goes. Lucas still proposed to Peyton in L.A. when they were nineteen years old, and she still told him, "not now, but one day". They broke up just like they did on the show, with Lucas leaving her to wake up alone in their hotel room. There is no Lindsey. Recently, two years later, Peyton showed up back in One Tree Hill to open her own label. She made the move for reasons you will come to know later. Lucas and Peyton got into a massive fight which upset him so much that he transferred schools and is now attending Yale. Nathan and Haley are pregnant with their second child. Brooke's in New York.

All I really ask here is that you give this a chance. I thought crossovers were crazy until about two hours ago. And no matter how crazy it seems, you should drop me a review and let me know, because I will appreciate it more than you know. Following chapters will be longer. Read on!

**But I Know**

_Oh, I may be young,_

_but I know when I love someone._

_When I love someone. _

_You said, "Oh, I may be young,_

_but I know when I love someone._

_When I love someone."_

_Oh, it's you._

_Why did I chose these mistakes,_

_these mistakes to make?_

_Because it's you,_

_oh, it's you._

_It never changed for me. _

_It will always be._

_-- _Annie Stela, "It's You"

"_Damn_ it," Rory Gilmore cried, stretching her hands out as she vainly tried to save her essay from falling into the snow below. She fell to her knees on the damp ground, ignoring the wetness she could feel seeping through her jeans. Logan, for some insane reason she could not comprehend, did not own a stapler, and all twenty unstapled pages had floated gracefully away from her mitten-covered hands. She'd grown too accustomed to living with Paris, who had about six of everything. Logan did not buy excess stationary items. It really shouldn't have surprised her. Now she was screwed. She'd already gotten an extension on that paper.

"I am so sorry," a voice said sincerely. It belonged to the reason her game theory paper was drenched and her coffee was spilled, the person she'd bumped into.

Mournfully, she stared at her soaked bibliography. "It was as much my fault as yours," she muttered. "I was late and rushing, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"I was rushing, too," the voice admitted, a hint of amusement seeping into the sincerity. "And I have no idea where I'm going. I'm lost."

She turned to see who the voice belonged to. A young man crouched next to her, wearing a gentle smile. He held a campus map held loosely in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. His blonde hair was styled to look messy, that impeccably groomed yet somehow scruffy look her boyfriend loved so much, and his eyes were bright blue. Yet, it wasn't Logan that entered her mind. It was something else, someone else. She bit her lower lip slightly. _Forbidden_, she thought vaguely, and then it hit her. "Tristan?" she asked incredulously, smiling.

He smiled back, appreciatively noting the subdued battle between delight and frustration in the shy, pretty smile that lit her blue eyes. "Uh…no. Lucas Scott," he introduced himself, dropping the map to extend his hand.

"God, I'm sorry."

He couldn't resist quipping, "Nice to meet you, Sorry, but really, you don't have to call me God."

Her eyes brightened even more, with shock and amusement. Her eyes were really incredibly blue. "Okay, wow, it's just…you…look a lot, and I mean a _lot_ like someone I used to know. And you…talk like him, too."

"Thank you…?" he replied uncertainly, teasingly.

She shook her head, and he watched her coffee-coloured locks bounce softly on her shoulders, mesmerized. "It's not a compliment. He was a cocky asshole."

He bit back a grin. "Believe me when I say that I'm usually not." He stood slowly, pulling her up with him.

"Thank you," she replied, alarmed when she realized how long their hands had been touching. She pushed her hair behind her eyes.

Lucas bent his head to catch her eyes. "You won't tell me your name? I swear, I'm really usually not an asshole." Only sometimes. With certain people.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I mean…" Rory blushed, internally scolding herself. She was never this girly and bashful. She'd grown up. But the sight of someone so similar to the boy who'd made her his conquest at Chilton threw her forcefully back to high school. She straightened up a little, wishing her knees weren't covered in slush, and lifted her chin confidently. "Lorelai Gilmore."

"Nice to meet you," Lucas replied, automatically extending his hand to shake.

"We did that already," she reminded him with a small smile.

"Right, yeah."

At the lull in conversation, her Gilmore genes kicked in and she began babbling, "Okay, so, I love snow, and this has been…really weird, honestly, because I could have sworn you were…but good, it was good weird. But I really have to print off another paper before my professor skins me alive and I need to buy a stapler or at the very least break into Paris' apartment and steal one, but then she'd probably think one of the guys from the Do-op group downstairs finally broke in, and _believe_ me, that would _not_ bode well, so really I should just go buy a stapler, but in all honesty, I don't have time. Or the money, even. I mean, Logan does, but I still feel uncomfortable just _taking_ someone's money, even though it would be a stapler for him, too, and I…I am talking a lot," she muttered, her voice dropping about an octave as she looked down at her hands.

"That's okay," he laughed, though he looked a little stunned. "Listen, Lorelai Gilmore, can you point me in the direction of Saybrook?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, sure. It's close to Branford, where I used to live. Keep walking, then take…three lefts, an immediate right, and then your second left."

"Thank you. I'm sorry, again."

"I thought _I_ was sorry," she replied teasingly, shocking herself by leaning forward flirtatiously.

"I'll keep it in mind. Three lefts, immediate right, second left," he repeated as he backed away, giving her a wave.

She nodded, biting her lower lip again shyly. She turned to go, berating herself for being such a moron. She had a boyfriend, she was in love, and that was just some guy who couldn't even read a map. Stupid.

"Hey, Lorelai," the voice she now recognized called a moment later and she froze before turning back around, gathering air into her lungs so that she could call directions to him again.

He beat her to it, speaking first, the breeze carrying his voice to her tenderly, as though it, too, was part of some grand scheme. "You're right. That was really good weird."

Her breath caught in her throat and she coughed, her blue eyes widening. He just grinned at her and walked away.

Rory paced her apartment after her classes that day, clutching the cordless phone. A post-it note, upon which was written a short but serious pro-con list, was crumpled in her hand. She wanted to call Lorelai and discuss this, but at the same time, calling her mother to talk would be admitting that this was…not a problem, but at the very least, an issue. Something she needed some perspective and advice on. She didn't know if it was a crush. She didn't know if it was anything. Did it mean that she had liked Tristan, or just that this new guy was attractive?

She had a boyfriend! A boy who loved her. Logan had changed for her. How could she be thinking what she was thinking?

She wasn't, she decided. It was nothing, just a strange moment. A blast from the past, but also a new prospective.

She thought of Dean and how stupid she'd been then. Not again. _Not again_.

The phone rang, vibrating in her hands and she jumped about a foot. She answered, placing the phone cautiously against her ear and asking tentatively, breathlessly, "Hello?"

"Hey, sexy," Logan said, his voice husky and jesting. "What've you been up to without me?" he asked teasingly.

"Nothing!" she cried, more guiltily than she thought possible.

"Uh huh," he replied, sounding completely unconvinced. "Listen, Ace, I'm so sorry, but my dad's being a jackass as always and I'm going to be late getting home."

"Oh," Rory said quietly, relieved at the feeling of disappointment that filled her. "We were going to have dinner. I was going to do my best takeout ordering."

"I know, Ace…"

"It's okay, really. Don't feel guilty. It's not your fault."

"Still order all that, okay? You eat. And when I get home, you and I can finish whatever you started before I called."

"Logan," she chastised, blushing even though she was alone. "I wasn't…"

She could hear loud voices in the background. "I have to go, love you; I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Love you, too," she replied, swallowing hard.

The moment he hung out she collapsed on the couch, turning to her right to look at the framed shot of the two of them plummeting through the air. She had loved him in that moment, and she loved him still.

She dialled quickly and precisely, held her breath as she waited for an answer.

"Hello." Lorelai sounded particularly melancholy, but she'd been in a funk for months. Rory knew that while she kept going with her usual speed and enthusiasm, it got the better of her sometimes.

"Mom, are you okay?"

"Hey, angel," Lorelai replied tiredly, and Rory could hear her smile. "Oh, sweets, I'm fine, I'm just…it's nothing."

"He loves you. Luke loves you," Rory said with quiet confidence, putting her own problems on the backburner momentarily.

"I know," her mother replied, sounding suddenly tearful. "I just wish…"

"I know." Rory let it be at that, allowing silence to fill the companionable silence as Lorelai got herself together.

"So," she said, much more brightly. "What is it, kid?"

"What'd'you mean?"

"Oh, Rory. I think by now, after over two decades with you in my life, I know your moods. You sounded a little frantic when I answered."

"I was worried about you."

"Thank you, honey, I appreciate that. Now, should I get comfy, because if it's going to take over an hour to get this out of you, I'm going to need candy and coffee and _Cosmo_."

"You would read while on the phone with me? " her daughter asked incredulously.

"What? You like reading. You used to ignore me while you read all the time –"

"I was reading _War and Peace_, not about how to get the best orgasm of my life!"

"And impressive evasive manoeuvre, there," Lorelai finished sarcastically, ignoring Rory's comment.

"Mommy?" Rory asked in her smallest voice.

"Yes, honey."

The sound of Lorelai's patient voice, the one that had come up with solutions to countless problems that Rory had thought impossible, made her melt. "I think I have a crush," she admitted.

After taking a moment to absorb her daughter's words, Lorelai asked, "Is he hot?"

"Mom!"

"Okay, sorry, sweetie, I realize this isn't joking territory…I just couldn't resist." After a pause, she whined, "Can't you at least tell me if he's hot?"

"_Mom_!"

"He _is_," Lorelai replied in amazement. "Wow, honey."

"I love Logan," Rory said, and she felt like crying.

"Oh, babe. Having a crush on some gorgeous guy doesn't mean you don't love Logan. It's…it's a crush. That's very far away from being in love with someone."

"He looks freakishly like Tristan."

"Shut up!" Lorelai cried, and Rory was vaguely happy that her dilemma had cheered her mother up. "That's crazy. Oh, kiddo, don't read too much into it. Having a little sexual tension with a friend can be a good thing."

"In what world?"

Lorelai sighed. "Rory, honey, you know that Logan and I…I'm not exactly his biggest fan, but I do not doubt you love him. I really don't."

"Thank you, Mom. But…what do I do about this guy?"

"You see him around, or not. You hang out, or you don't. There's nothing that you have to do."

"I feel, like, sixteen when I try to say anything," Rory confessed, annoyed, as she stretched out on the couch.

Lorelai listened to get daughter carefully, paying close attention to the tone and inflection of her voice. She kept her comments light-hearted, but in truth, she was thinking seriously. There was something between her daughter and this new man, she suspected. A connection more intimate than a simple crush. But she knew her girl, she knew Rory, and she knew that she could never tell her daughter that. "Babe, listen, I have to get to the inn before Michel has a breakdown and starts refusing to speak English again. I'll just say one thing. If you realize one day, that maybe you don't love Logan as much as you used to or…if you find something more…more real, or intense, then that's _okay_. You haven't made any commitments about forever yet. I know you love him, Rory, and I am very happy for you, but it's not wrong to love someone else. Okay?"

Rory was quiet for so long that Lorelai actually considered grabbing her copy of _Cosmopolitan_ and flipping through it. "Sweetie?" she asked.

Rory sounded weary. "I hate it when you're honest. And when you're right."

Lorelai knew she should leave it alone, but she wouldn't have been able to stand not knowing. "What does that mean, when I'm right?" she gently prodded. "Is there something more there?"

"No. Mom. I just met him for like two seconds. You just…you know what you're talking about. But I love him. I do."

"That's good," Lorelai said softly. "I have to go. I love you, hon. Just remember what I said. You can love anyone you want, as long as you always love me best."

"I will," Rory said honestly, smiling at her mother's joke.

"I know," Lorelai whispered, touched by her daughter's immediate and genuine answer. "Back atcha, baby."

"Hey! Finally! I've been trying to get a hold of you all day."

"Sorry, Hales," Lucas chuckled as he flopped down onto his bed. He held the phone between his ear and his shoulder so that he could lazily toss a basketball up and down.

"Shut up and tell me how your day was," she ordered.

"I talked to about twelve different deans about transferring credits, and I got lost about ninety seven times."

"Big campus?" she asked with a sympathetic laugh.

"Massive."

"I can't believe you, Lucas," she said, and he could picture her fondly shaking her head. "_Yale_, of all places in the world."

"Of all places in the _world_, Haley? That seems a little extreme."

"You're just so far away," she said sadly, and then sighed the delicate sigh he knew always preceded a touchy subject. "Lucas…I just wish you hadn't physically felt the need to run away."

He caught the basketball and let it fall to the floor next to his bed. "It's just hard," he confessed.

"Don't hate her, Luke," Haley insisted quietly. "You left her, and she couldn't handle it."

"She could have called me," he snapped back, feeling his defences go up.

"Lucas," Haley said patiently. They were getting into this for the hundredth time. "You _left_ her there."

"Haley." He was not going to do it again. It was hard, he'd just told her that. He loved her for caring, but it was done. For good.

"Fine, fine, I'm dropping it. But I'm asking you, Luke, as your best friend, not to be angry about this. Tell me what would have happened if she had called."

"That's not dropping it."

"Lucas!"

He ground his back teeth together. "I would have taken care of her," he said softly.

"You tell that to the girl who's always being left alone."

"Haley, I swear…"

"I'm done," she said calmly.

"We're done. We were done a long time ago. She shouldn't have told me."

"Lucas." It was her turn to sound threatening, stunned that he would say something like that. He would never admit it, but he had waited for her. And everyone knew that soon enough, once back in Tree Hill, they would fall together again, the way they were supposed to be. Yes, the confession had ripped them apart again and had hurt Lucas, but she hadn't truly believed that his hurt was beyond repair.

"So I met my roommates," he said pointedly. "Or suitemates. They seem like okay guys. Colin and Finn. Finn's Australian."

"Sounds sexy," Haley laughed, valiantly trying to adopt to his change of topic. "I'll have to come visit."

"Yeah, to see me, not the alcoholic Australian."

"Of course to see you. But he'll be there, won't he?"

"Hales. Do us all a favour and take up your pregnancy-induced sexual cravings with your husband."

"Luke!" she cried. "Stop. Change of topic, now," she said hurriedly, for both their sakes. "Are all those East Coast people as nice as they're supposed to be?"

"They're alright. Yale's a little…snobby. I met a really…unique girl today. She was sweet, she gave me directions."

Haley let that sink in. She didn't want to get mad at him. Not again. "You met a girl?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because of everything that's happened!" she argued. "Because you just, literally, ran away from the one girl—"

"Haley. Please."

She sighed heavily. "So you met a girl."

"Don't sound so excited about it."

"I didn't call you to fight," his best friend replied tenderly. "I really didn't. Tell me about her."

"We ran into each other and I knocked her paper all over the place. She thought I was some ass of a guy she used to know. We talked for a minute. It wasn't a big deal."

"How _like_ her!" Haley's tone was so full of accusation that he pulled the phone away from his ear. She may as well have said 'How dare you?' or 'Can you be more of a jerk?'

He fought to keep from yelling at her and replied, as kindly as he could, "I know that you're sentimental right now, Haley, but it's over. We're over."

"If that's what you need to tell yourself," she muttered.

"I have to go," he muttered right back.

"No, Luke –"

"Give Jamie a hug for me. I'll talk to you later."

"I miss you."

He nodded to the empty room, suddenly lonely and regretting his decision to hang up on her. His stubborn side wouldn't relent, however, so he did abruptly press the _end_ button, but not before saying, "Back at you."


	2. Intrigue

**A/N: **Thank you, everyone! I was so relieved to get a response. I'm very sorry the last chapter had no form of separation between sections, that wasn't supposed to happen. This one will. I'd also like to warn you not to expect updates this quickly in the future. I'll always be working on this, but I just happened to write the first two chapters at once, so this one was ready to go.

I've gotten a lot of comments about who Rory will ultimately end up with; some of you are for a Rory/Lucas relationship, while others really don't want me to break up Rogan. All I can say to you is this: stick with me. Please. No matter who you're shipping for, things are going to happen that you don't like, but hang in there until the end. I never meant for this to be predictable, though it may seem so at times. Please, I am begging you, make my day and leave me a review. Read on!

When Lucas ventured out of his room the next morning, Finn lifted his head from where he was sprawled out on the couch under a pile of blankets. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded, squinting.

Lucas hesitated, unsure if this was some sort of prank. They'd met yesterday. They hadn't spent hours tearing apart Kafka's work or anything, but they had talked. "Lucas. Your roommate."

"Don't mind Finn," Colin's voice said from the tiny kitchenette, where he was battling a coffeemaker. "He's permanently drunk. If you ever want to get back at him, just expose him to the sun."

"The sun is not a friend," Finn muttered, turning over and burying her head back under the mound of blankets.

Lucas allowed himself a half-grin. "Is he _always_ like that?"

"Oh, no. He has to sober up occasionally. It would probably be dangerous otherwise."

"Right. Otherwise."

"Coffee?" Colin asked, grabbing another mug and pouring him a cup without waiting for an answer.

"Thanks."

"So how do you like it so far? Yale," he clarified.

"Uh…it's big, but it seems pretty good. I've only been here for a day."

"One day is plenty of time to party," Finn interjected, his eyes still closed.

Colin rolled his eyes. "You should come out with us, tonight, man. We have an in everywhere."

"Thanks. Sure."

Finn threw off his blankets and stood up, blearily peering around the room as if seeking out familiar objects that would remind him of where he was. "Have we _met_?" he asked Lucas. "And why are you here at this ungodly hour?"

"Finn," Colin said in a world-weary voice. Lucas suspected this was nothing out of the ordinary. "You're naked."

* * *

Lucas ate a bowl of cereal at the dining hall quickly before making an escape to the library. His suitemates reeked of the East Coast high society that he had not yet encountered in North Carolina, but they seemed nice enough. Even so, last night's conversation with Haley had upset him, and he wasn't in the mood for real people. He figured he could sit down with a book and get lost for a couple hours.

He wandered in between the shelves aimlessly, waiting for something to jump out at him. Books were still a big part of who he was, but lately he'd found that the wrong book had the power to depress him. The manuscripts of his novel were being turned down repeatedly, and he was close to losing hope.

He stopped in front of one shelf and grabbed a random book. The entire library smelled comfortingly like a used book store, musty in an enticing way. With a quick glance around to see if anyone was watching, he brought the book up to his nose to inhale even more of that smell.

Someone seemed to appear from nowhere next to him, leaning back against the shelf lazily. "Did you just sniff that book?" The words were judgemental, but there was something understanding about the tone.

He turned to see the girl he'd run into yesterday giving him a playful smile. She was wearing a clingy black sweater over jeans, and her eyes were sparkling.

"Lorelai Gilmore," he said.

"Lucas Scott," she mimicked, "were you sniffing that book?"

He offered a weak, "No?"

She laughed, and he was pleasantly surprised by the pretty sound. "Yeah, you were." She took the book from his hands and bent her head so that her nose brushed the spine. "I love that smell."

"Are you mocking me?"

She shook her head. Her hair was in a ponytail today. "No…honestly, I do it too," she confessed with a sly smile. "And I've been, caught, too, but not by someone as wonderfully understanding as me." She tilted her head to one side adorably. One of her first encounters with Logan lingered in the back of her mind, but she made up her mind to temporarily ignore it.

"Lucky me."

She broke eye contact and cleared her throat. "So, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "It's a Saturday. Why are you in the library as opposed to chillaxing with your homies or something?" She instantly wished she had used other words. Her personality (which was about seventy-five percent Lorelai) got some taking used to in contrast to her shy side, the side of her everyone she met got to know first.

"I'm new here. I don't exactly have any homies yet."

"You know me," she argued, and then regretted it. She had no idea what she'd meant to imply with that.

He seemed to have a smile that was perpetually gentle. "I know your name, and I know that you don't have a stapler. That's not a lot."

"I like coffee," Rory offered. She realized that he would soon come to know what an obvious fact this was, so she added, more daringly, "And I sing in the shower. Spice Girls, usually."

His eyebrows rose. "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want?"

She flashed her pearly whites. "How do you know Spice Girls lyrics?"

"Despite the fact that I don't have any friends _here_, I do have friends. Some of them are girls."

"You know, it's okay to admit that you like the Spice Girls." Her eyes grew wide and earnest as she teased him.

"They used to do this stupid dance to that song," he defended himself. Lately, he hadn't been thinking much about senior year because it hurt too much. Somehow, with this girl, it didn't seem so painful.

"There's nothing stupid about dancing to a Spice Girls song," she replied, her tone reasonable.

Lucas pointed an accusing finger. "You're trying to talk me in circles and confuse me so that you win."

Rory blushed. She'd learned it from her mother, and so far, no guy had caught on quite as quickly. "I guess you do hang out with girls."

"That I do," he said in softer tone.

She pulled herself up so that she was fully standing instead of leaning on the bookshelf. He seemed suddenly, inexplicably sad, and it reminded her of the sadness she had finally seen in Tristan's eyes one day, after turning him down again and again. "Hey, so listen," she said sweetly. "Since you don't have any homies yet, why don't you hang out with me? I'm studying right now, but we could do something tonight. I'm not that interesting, but I love a good movie. Or we could just sniff books, if you want." She had never, in her life, asked a guy out. She had to chose now, when she had a steady boyfriend, to do it. Of course. She held her breath.

"I promised my roommates I would go out with them tonight," Lucas said regretfully. He liked movies, and there was something in her eyes that told him that she sensed that he felt a little down. And yes, she was beautiful, and sweet, and a bit of nerd, like him. "Rain check? Maybe tomorrow?"

"I have plans tomorrow," she said with a roll of her eyes she didn't bother explaining. Dinner with the Gilmores and the Huntzbergers. She wasn't looking forward to it. She didn't want to ask about dates further into the future, because that would seem too much like she was seriously asking him out. Which she was not. "I'll see you around, alright?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

She smiled down at the book he held like she had some kind of emotional attachment to it. "You two have fun," she said with a grin, and then turned and walked off, back to a table where she was sitting with a blonde girl with an intense face. Lucas watched curiously as the blonde gestured wildly toward him. The brunette shook her head and calmed her friend patiently, waving away the other girl's words with an easy flick of one of her slender wrists.

* * *

"Who was that?" Paris demanded the moment she sat back down at the table.

"Just someone I met yesterday."

"Some guy you met yesterday," Paris corrected, straining her neck to get a better look at him. "Oh my God, Rory, is that –"

"Not Tristan," she interrupted. "His alternate-universe clone or something."

"And what, you're friends?"

Rory shrugged, noncommittal. "We just met."

"Do you have a thing for him or something?"

"God! No! I'm with Logan."

"You were giving him the look," Paris said, arching her eyebrows.

"What look?" Rory demanded defensively.

"The _I'm Rory Gilmore, I'm so innocent, oh my, take me now_ look."

"Shut up."

"Random sex isn't a bad thing."

"Thanks, Paris. I'll let my boyfriend know about that great piece of advice."

"I think your boyfriend's indulged in his fair share of random sex," Paris said pointedly.

"No talking in the library," Rory replied, flipping open her book forcefully.

She missed having guy friends, that was all. Logan was perfect. He'd ended up stuck in New York all night, but had driven home early in the morning to surprise her with coffee and chocolate chip muffins. He'd woken her up by kissing her entire face, and when her eyelids finally fluttered open, his lips had landed on hers. She'd almost forgotten, in a short forty-eight hours, how good it felt to kiss him, and the feeling of his body draped over hers had coaxed a moan out of her throat. "Good morning to you too," she'd murmured as he helped her out of her pyjamas. Living with him made her feel like she'd found where she needed to be. She'd realized that when she stepped out of the bathroom an hour later in one of his button-down shirts to find him making eggs for her.

* * *

The incessant singing of Justin Timberlake from Logan's cell phone woke Rory from her light sleep. She was curled up on the couch next to her boyfriend, her head comfortably position on his shoulder as _The Karate Kid_ played on the TV. Logan had picked up a newspaper when she'd drifted off, and was lazily perusing the articles.

"Finn must have downloaded ringtones again," Logan sighed when he realized she was awake. "I gotta get that, babe."

"No," she murmured into his warm, comfortable chest. "It's just Finn. Leave it."

"Knowing Finn, he would've given my dad the ringtone that amused him the most. Come on, Mitchum Huntzberger, Sexy Back?"

"Fine, you're right," she grouched playfully, allowing him to stand. He placed a pillow on the couch where he'd been sitting so that she could lie down.

"Finn, you ass," her boyfriend greeted the caller.

Rory lifted her head up to mouth, "I told you so," at him, with her eyebrows raised pointedly.

"Yeah, sure, you're the one Sexy Back was written for, I believe that. No. That was sarcasm. Listen, I'm busy. No, Finn, I'm not having sex. Finn. What do you want? You never call me 'just to talk'. No. You don't." Logan walked to the fridge and hesitated just after he opened the door. "No, not tonight. We're going to stay in."

Rory knew him well enough to be able to pick up on the subtleties in his tone. He wanted to stay in and make her happy; she was in a lazy mood. It was clear that Finn had invited him on some sort of crazy, exciting evening he wanted to be a part of, but he was sacrificing that for her. She sat up all the day. "Logan, hey. What's he saying?"

He walked back over to her so that he could talk quietly. The apartment was peacefully still. "They're going out to the pub for some sort of all-night party."

She smiled at the way he tenderly stroked her hair as he spoke. "So let's go."

"I thought you wanted a quiet night," he said, his gaze pointedly traveling to the movie on the TV, the popcorn and liquorice on the table, and the Hello Kitty pyjama shorts she was wearing.

"Hey, I can change my mind," she said with a small smile. "Let's go meet them."

"Ace, we don't have to."

"Yeah, but you want to," she countered. "So tell them your fabulous girlfriend says yes, and let's go."

He bent down to kiss her forehead. "Thanks, Rory." He put the phone back to his ear and said, "Okay, we'll catch up with you. Yes, I'll tell her," he said with a roll of his eyes. "See you there, man."

"Tell me what?" Rory asked, sitting crossed-legged as she looked up at him. She grabbed the remote and turned off the TV and DVD player.

"Finn wants you to look hot. And while I'd appreciate that, you need to remember not to wear anything with really thin straps, alright?"

"Do I even want to know the story behind that one?" she asked as she got up, stepping into his arms. His hands settled lightly on her hips as he pulled her to him for a kiss. She kissed him back passionately and his grip tightened, pulling her up and closer.

"No, you don't. But you know, Ace," he added after she kissed his jaw, "staying in is looking like a better and better idea."

She laughed, giving him one last kiss. "You get ready and go meet your friends. Give me some time to get pretty and I'll meet you there."

"Oh, Ace, don't worry about it, I can wait for you."

"I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about Finn. Go make sure he doesn't strip in the first hour, okay?"

He laughed and pulled her back to him for yet another kiss. "Okay. Have I told you today how much I love you?"

"A couple times," she shrugged. "But it's always good to hear."

* * *

"So I say, _it's not you, it's me_."

"Colin, no."

"What?"

"People don't actually say that, mate. Did she slap you?"

"Yes…how did you know?"

Finn gave him a pointed look. "No one says that."

"They do, in movies, all the time."

"I thought you would have dumped enough girls to have perfected it by now, moron. And stop watching those stupid girly movies."

"I don't watch girly movies!"

"_The Notebook_?"

"_The Notebook_ is not a stupid girly movie!" Colin protested. "You know, Finn, I don't care about your opinion. You're drunk."

"Not as drunk as I will be!" Finn practically cheered, downing a shot of tequila.

"Oh God, ten o'clock," sighed Colin.

Lucas, who had until that point been observing their antics as he drank his first beer, turned in the direction Colin had indicated. An overly made-up brunette was approaching them with a seductive gleam in her eye. "Who's that?"

"I met her in Belgium last year, but _nothing happened_. We didn't even kiss, but she somehow managed to convince herself that she loves me. And, just my luck, she goes to Yale. I thought she'd be at some state university."

"There's nothing wrong with state university," Lucas pointed out.

Finn and Colin both threw him exasperated looks that indicated just how relevant that was at the moment.

"If you'd just sleep with her, that'd turn her off for sure," Finn suggested.

"You're not funny," his friend grumbled as the brunette got closer still.

She pressed up to Colin and cooed, "Hey, baby."

"Daisy. Hi."

Lucas shot Finn an amused look which Finn returned, handing him another beer.

"You look sad, honey…buy me a drink and I'll cheer you up," she suggested, pulling her low-cut top down further and licking her glossy lips.

"No, thanks," Colin replied petulantly. "Hey, Finn," he said loudly, hoping to change the topic, "is Logan coming?"

"Yeah, mate. Both he and Reporter Girl decided to show up."

"That's impressive. She's not much of a party girl."

Finn grinned wickedly. "Girls just wanna have fun," he said innocently, gesturing to Daisy.

"Who's Logan?" Lucas asked, directing the conversation into a safer zone. Colin looked like he wanted to strangle his friend.

"My best mate," Finn said.

"Hey!" Colin objected. "What about me?"

"Have sex with her and maybe I'll change my mind," Finn said flippantly. "Maybe Logan can give you some advice." Turning back to Lucas, he said, "Logan has slept with more girls than I have, and _that_ is a record. He doesn't even have a charming accent."

"That's…great."

Colin and Finn exchanged a knowing look. "Oh, my," Colin said. "You're a good guy, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?"

Finn nodded sagely. "Relationship man. You fall in love, right? Which means you've only been in love a few times. And therefore, you're nowhere near my record, never mind Logan's. Am I right?"

"You're right," Colin answered for Lucas.

Lucas wasn't sure what they were trying to say. Were they mocking him for choosing to fall in love rather than have sex with every girl who threw herself at him? His life was complicated enough with the two girls who'd fought for his heart, and the other two who'd been rebounds more than anything else. "Yeah, you're right. But maybe," he shrugged, "I made a mistake. Being in love sucks."

"Oh, dear god, you're on the rebound!" Finn exclaimed. "You've got it bad! Colin, how good is this?"

"Too good."

"We'll find you a girl, mate," Finn assured Lucas with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "And we will find her now."

"Really, guys, I don't think…"

"Hey!" A voice called over the crowds, interrupting Lucas. It was the kind of voice that commanded the attention of listeners. Lucas' brother, Nathan, had a voice like that.

"Logan! Just in time!" Finn and Colin jumped up to give 'manly hugs' to the brown-eyed blond who'd appeared.

"In time for what?" he laughed. "Tell me you guys haven't moved on to round two without me."

"We would never," Finn swore, mock-appalled. "We were just on the hunt for a girl for our new boy."

"New boy?" questioned Logan, his reporter's blood hitting him with curiosity.

"Logan Huntzberger," Finn said overdramatically, "meet our new suitemate, Lucas Scott."

Lucas extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, man."

Logan shook his hand confidently. "You, too."

"Hey, where's Reporter Girl?" Colin asked.

"Yes, where is she? Logan, if you left her at home she must be lonely, so I could…"

"Stop, Finn," his friend sighed. "It was only funny the first sixteen times."

Lucas finally found an opening to ask, "Who's Reporter Girl?"

"My girlfriend," Logan informed him as he gulped down what was left of Finn's drink. "Her name is Rory, but Colin and Finn can't be normal and call people by their actual names." He said it all in a friendly tone, with a teasing glance at his friends.

"You're one to talk," Colin pointed out. "So is your _Ace_ coming, or what?"

"Yeah, she'll be here soon." He gestured for the bartender to come over and got his own drink. "So, Lucas, you're a transfer?"

"Yeah, from North Carolina."

"Far away," Logan commented.

"Yeah, well…I needed a change."

Logan nodded wisely. "I hear that. Been there."

"What about the blonde over there?" Finn asked. He'd been scoping out prospective girls.

Lucas followed his gaze. At the sight of blonde curls cascading down the girl's back, he shook his head adamantly. "No," he said, his tone unquestionable.

Finn backed off immediately. "Okay," he said, sensing that there was one hell of a good reason for Lucas' rejection of the girl.

"Never mind, guys. Just leave it. Thanks anyway," he muttered.

Logan cleared his throat and smiled. "So, Colin. How's Daisy?"

"Don't start," Colin growled. The girl was still sitting close by, eyeing him.

Lucas chuckled as Finn and Logan continued their joking at Colin's expense. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of brown and red, and out of curiosity, he sought it out. He realized, after a minute, that it was Lorelai Gilmore, the girl from the quad and the library. She was dressed for a night out in a denim skirt and a red shirt with a v-neck. Her hair was in soft curls resting on her shoulders, and her cheeks were tinged with pink. She was all alone, but her eyes traveled around the room casually, as if she was looking for someone.

Colin noticed his quiet and called him on it. "What're you looking at?" he asked with a smirk. Finn and Logan immediately swivelled their heads to find out as well.

"Oh, hey," Logan said before Lucas could speak. "Ace!" he called. "Over here, babe."

To Lucas' amazement, it was Lorelai who emerged from the crowd and walked right into Logan's embrace, kissing him and cuddling into his arms. "Hey, you. It's so busy here, I almost didn't find you."

"I'm glad you did," Logan replied with an intimate smile. "You clean up good, Ace."

She giggled and stuck out her tongue. "You don't look so bad yourself, Huntzberger. Hi, boys," she added with a glance at Colin, Finn, and Lucas. She looked back, doing a double take.

Of course. She inappropriately flirts with a guy, and the next time she sees him she does it again and basically asks him out. Of course, she should have known that the next time she saw him she'd be securely wrapped in her boyfriend's arms. That was just how the world worked. "Oh, Ace, I'm sorry," Logan was saying, but his words were barely registering, "this is Lucas Scott, Colin and Finn's new roommate, from North Carolina. Lucas, meet my girlfriend, Rory Gilmore."

"Hi," she said faintly.

Lucas watched her face carefully. Her cheeks were flushed as though she'd been caught. Had he been mistaken earlier? Was she just naturally very friendly; had he mistaken her kindness for flirting? Judging by her red cheeks, he didn't think so.

Logan clearly loved her. According to Colin and Finn, he'd been the biggest player around, so Lorelai…Rory…had to mean a great deal to him in order for him to give up his man-whoring ways. He could tell just by the way Logan looked at her as he held her. Logan's fingers had slipped just under Rory's shirt and were lingering on the skin at her hip.

Rory gave a small cough and pulled away from her boyfriend slightly, though Logan kept his hold on her. She extended her hand with an air of professionalism and detachment.

As Lucas reached out to shake her hand, he knew he wasn't going to let her play any games. She was going to own up and come clean. "Hey, yeah, we've met each other. You gave me directions yesterday, and I saw you in the library."

Her angelic blue eyes widened with shock. She'd never suspected that he would actually call her on her behaviour, that much was clear.

"You know each other, huh?" Finn asked, eyeing them.

Rory felt hurt, but she knew she deserved what he'd said. Their meetings didn't mean anything (yet), and it didn't have to mean anything (unless she wanted them to), but she would have preferred that Logan had just never known. "Yeah, I guess we do," she said quietly.

Lucas looked into her baby blue orbs and waited for her to explain herself. Her innocent look may have gotten her anything she desired before, but his heart was freshly broken, and he refused to let her get away with it.

No matter how much her wounded eyes tugged on his healing heartstrings.

**A/N:** It would be really awesome if you reviewed right now, wouldn't it?


	3. Apologize

**A/N: **Okay, people. If you ship Rogan, there is going to be a point in this story when you hate me, _but_ there is also going to be a point where you'll be happy. If you're pulling for Rory and Lucas, there are going to be moments when you're happy, _but_ there will also be times when you hate me. **Either way**, I think you will be happy with the ending, so keep reading even if you get annoyed. It would be really nice if you also left me a review. Again, I'm spoiling you...all updates will definitely not be this close together. Thanks for reading, please review, and read on!

"We ran into each other on the quad yesterday," Rory said with quiet intensity. The gentle press of Logan's fingertips into her hip made her hyper-aware of his presence. "My paper went everywhere. And we saw each other in the library earlier today," she said with a casual shrug, determined not to make a big deal of the situation.

Logan nodded. "You read? Rory's obsessive."

"Yeah, I do…and I write, actually. I'm trying to get a novel published."

Rory's eyes fully lit, dancing with amazement and pride. "Wow," she said, locking eyes with him.

She was shocked. He'd written a book? That was such a huge achievement. The nerd in her and the part of her that was attracted to him both ached to read it.

"Yeah, mate, that's bloody impressive," Finn agreed, chugging _another_ drink. "What's it about?"

"Uh, well…it's kind of about my life."

"Autobiographical?" Logan asked.

"No, I wrote it as a novel, I just…had a very dramatic high school experience," Lucas replied wryly, finishing off his drink.

"You've sent it to publishers?" Rory asked, her tone hushed and meant only for his ears.

"Yeah, but I keep getting rejected."

"That sucks," she said sympathetically. She felt a wave of sadness and leaned back into Logan's embrace. She was intensely aware of the fact that she felt Lucas' pain, but that she was letting Logan comfort her. "Hey, babe," she said, struck by an idea. She tilted her head to look at Logan, who leaned down to kiss her. She pulled away before it got too deep. "Do you think you could help? You have major writing connections."

"No, Ace, I don't think I could. Sorry, man," he added, speaking to Lucas. "I do, but they're all in the world of journalism. I don't know anyone who deals with literature that well."

"Is that what you do?" Lucas questioned. "Journalism?"

Logan's smile revealed that there was a lot more to the story, but his answer was simple: "That's the family business. I'm good at it. But it's not what I do."

"Reporter Girl, on the other hand," Colin commented, "is journalist extraordinaire, fondly known as _Ace_ by her whipped boyfriend," he laughed.

"Colin," Rory scolded with a roll of her eyes. "You better buy me a drink for that."

"You?" Logan grumbled. "He better buy _me_ a drink for that."

Rory tossed him a look over her shoulder that said simply, _you are whipped—don't fight it._

Colin laughed and called the bartender over. "Coffee martini for the junkie," he requested, nodding in Rory's direction.

"Hey, don't call me that!" she protested playfully, pouting at him.

"You prove to me you're not an addict and I'll stop calling you on it," Colin replied evenly.

Finn, who was more intoxicated than the rest of them, cried, "Oh! He just burned you, Rory!"

Lucas stifled a laugh at Finn's dramatic facial expression, and Rory's eyes flew to him instantly. She looked confused by his presence there. She'd forgotten him temporarily, and he made her uneasy.

"Logie!" a high-pitched voice pierced through the music and the voices talking around them to hit Lucas' ears with painful intensity. Logan, Colin, Finn, and Rory all winced, too.

Rory whipped around to look at her boyfriend, but Lucas could still see her eyes, and there was fire in them.

"_Logie_?" Rory asked her boyfriend testily. After her two-day flirting stint with Lucas, she had no right to get angry with him, but it was an automatic response to the presence of some slut throwing herself at her boyfriend. Logan had reformed, and she loved him for it…but as much as she hated to admit it, she was still a little insecure about their relationship.

"Logie, sweetheart, it's Cheryl!" The tall, thin redhead called. She was definitely striking, Lucas noticed. On his left, Finn was practically drooling.

"Logan," Rory said again, tugging gently at her boyfriend's sleeve so that he would look at her. Her eyes were remarkably vulnerable.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "She's one of Honor's friends, Ace, I'm sorry…Cheryl! Hi."

"Hi back to you, darling."

Rory watched as Cheryl let her fingertips linger on Logan's stomach, grazing his abs. He was talking to her in his usual charming way, that complimentary tone which was like a polite form of flirtation. She frowned deeply and blinked harshly. She was not going to cry about this. Logan was trying to move away from her, subtly but surely, though Cheryl wasn't having any of it. This was society. This was etiquette. It wasn't his fault.

As a wannabe author, Lucas had spent years people-watching, trying to figure out how to put human actions and emotions to paper, and was therefore very good at understanding how people's minds were working by just looking at them. Rory, at that moment, was pissed off and hurt, but there was also something like shame swirling in her eyes and noticeable at the corners of her mouth. She was angry both at her boy and herself. He wondered if that's what had driven her suggestiveness with him: her insecurity about her relationship. She didn't strike him as the type of girl to be unfaithful – she seemed much more like the complete opposite – but maybe she had encountered one too many Cheryls.

"Oh, you always look so good, sweetheart, _how_ do you do it? You and your sister have such good genes," she chuckled. "Honor said you'll be at the party tomorrow night at your parents' place?"

"Party?" Rory snapped, unable to stand it any longer. "I thought it was dinner," she said slowly, giving Logan a dangerous look.

He responded with an unspoken apology in his eyes. "It's a dinner…party. I was going to bring it up with you later. My mom and your grandma got a little carried away."

Before Rory could reply, Cheryl began eyeing Rory cattily. "And _who_ is this?"

Lucas knew that this was the point where Logan was supposed to step away from her and close to Rory. He was supposed to wrap her in a tight hug, give her a quick kiss and say firmly, "This is my girlfriend."

But that didn't happen. Instead, before Logan could move, Rory snapped, "Logan's girlfriend. Or at least, that's what I thought."

"Rory," Logan said, maintaining a calm tone.

"Don't _placate_ me!" she shot back incredulously. "I can't believe that you lied to me, and I can't believe that you're letting her touch you."

"Oh, honey," Cheryl replied with a fake smile. "Rory, was it? I'm so sorry. Logan's like a baby brother to me. We're just friends…now." Her last word was quiet but meant to be heard.

Rory shook her head and marched off.

"Ace!" Logan called after her. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked the redhead before bolting off after his girl.

Cheryl stared after him angrily. "Come now, love," Finn said, greedily drinking in her appearance as he placed a hand at the small of her back. "Come over here and let me buy you a drink."

Lucas raised his eyebrows as he watched their retreating backs. "They fight a lot?" he asked as casually as her could.

Colin both shook his head and shrugged. "Rarely. At least, that we know of. Rory's in a feisty mood tonight."

Lucas frowned, staring down into his drink. "I wonder why," he muttered.

* * *

"Why the hell would you lie to me?" Rory spat.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Logan shot back.

"You're such a jerk, Logan, I can't believe I thought…" she shook her head. She wanted to slap him, but she also felt the urge to apologize.

"You thought what?" he demanded.

"I thought you were done being a jerk!" she cried, throwing her hands into the air and scowling at him. "I thought you were done sleeping around."

"Rory, what the fuck?" Logan asked harshly, a tone she guessed she deserved considering her accusation. "You know that's not true, and you don't even _think_ it's true, I can tell. I know you."

"I want to be able to trust you," she said, dropping her voice to a whisper and meeting his eyes briefly and hesitantly.

"Rory, Ace…you can. You know you can."

"Logan, if you can lie to me about a stupid dinner party, what else can you lie to me about? You don't even get anything out of lying to me about that!"

"I know, Rory; I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you should be! God, Logan, I can't…" she shook her head stubbornly. "I can't do this right now."

"Ace," he tried.

"No, just…give me some space." She wanted to leave, but she also really needed a drink, so she just strode away and sat down at the bar, hoping he wouldn't follow.

He didn't, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. She'd asked for space, so he was listening to her. Would a better boyfriend ignore her request and follow her anyone to break down her barriers and get her to talk? She didn't know.

* * *

Lucas watched as Rory threw up her hands in exasperation, her curls bouncing against her shoulders as she shook her head. Slowly, she backed away from her boyfriend and marched off to the other side of the room, slipping onto a stool at the bar. As nonchalantly as possible, she glanced over her shoulder to see if her boyfriend had followed. Logan hadn't, he was on his way back to the boys. Lucas struggled to read Rory's eyes as she leaned in to order her drink.

The bartender said something to her that caused her eyes to shoot up to his face and she frowned at him. He backed off instantly, placing her drink in front of her and walking away. She made a face at his retreating back and Lucas chuckled to himself.

"What's going on, man?" Colin's voice brought him back to the conversation around him.

"She's pissed off about Cheryl," Logan said, his voice low, considering the presence of the redhead, who was all over Finn.

"You guys weren't even together when you and Cheryl hooked up," Colin reasoned.

"She's mad that she's here now. She doesn't know that we ever hooked up. And she's mad about this thing at her grandparents' tomorrow night…"

"What's the big deal?" Colin asked lazily. "Why didn't you just tell her the truth?"

"I have a good reason. And she would've understood that."

"That's not cryptic at all," Colin replied with a roll of his eyes.

"She wasn't supposed to know that it was a party. Really, it wasn't supposed to be, but Mom and Rory's grandmother just got so carried away…"

"Logan. Do you want to tell me what's going on or are you just going to sit here and ramble like an idiot?" Colin turned to Lucas. "Is he making any sense to you?"

"None," Lucas replied honestly.

"Never mind," Logan said, clearly irritated. "I'm leaving."

"You're leaving Reporter Girl here?" Colin asked incredulously.

"Bad idea," Lucas contributed.

Logan shot him a glare. "Thanks for your input, new kid, I don't know what I would have done without it. Colin, get her home safe, okay?"

"Logan, Lucas is right; you're being a moron –"

"Neither of you have any idea what you're talking about. Leave it alone." He grabbed his coat and made his way to the door.

Colin sighed. "I'll deal with that later," he muttered. He wandered off to where a group of four girls in short skirts stood. "Ladies," he said, and they all batted their eyelashes at him.

Lucas smirked and turned back to Rory, who was staring sadly, pensively into her beverage. Unsure of whether of not he would regret his decision, he got up and meandered over to her. He sat down calmly and placed his drink on the bar next to hers. She didn't look up at him.

"That drink gonna answer all your problems?"

"Maybe," she said evenly, still staring at the liquid.

He heard the slight hitch in her breath and immediately felt sympathetic. "Hey," he said softly. "It'll be okay."

She finally met his eyes. "You're very sweet for saying that."

Lucas shrugged. "Lorelai…I'm sorry, should I call you Rory?"

"It's actually my name," she swore, hurrying to remedy her mistake. "Lorelai, I man. Rory's a nickname; I don't go by Lorelai because my mom named me after herself."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Long story and lots of Demerol," she whispered. "She was young and crazy. Well, she's still crazy, just not as young."

He nodded and let the moment of relaxation and something bordering on friendship pass. "So then Rory, correct me if I'm wrong, but I could have sworn you were asking me out in the library."

Her face crumpled a little as she struggled to maintain her composure. "I was. Kind of."

Lucas nodded slowly. Trying to understand, he asked, "Is this some sort of game you and Logan play? He cheats on you, you cheat on him…?"

"No!" she cried, insulted and obviously angry. "No. I've never, ever cheated on him. You just reminded me of this guy I used to know and…it threw me back to high school. I'm just…I guess maybe I have a crush on you or something," she muttered. "I'm not like that. I'm a good person."

"I can tell," he assured her quietly. She seemed a little lost, but genuine.

"I love him," she sighed. "I love him and I messed up. I'm sorry," she said earnestly, meeting gaze. "I'm sorry that I involved you, and that I asked you out. I'm not…"

"Like that," Lucas finished. "Yeah, I got that."

She offered him a weak smile in return. "You seem like a really great guy, and I know things are…awkward now, but I know you're new and…" she shrugged. "Can we be friends?"

Lucas thought it over. He'd tried this whole _friends_ thing before. Sometimes it was good, and sometimes it was hell. He studied her hopeful eyes, and decided that it was worth the risk. If there was anything he needed right now, it was hope, and he felt that she was someone who could help him with that. "Yeah, sure," he said. "We can try," he added as a precaution.

She nodded, giving him that smile that looked like it needed to be accompanied by a halo. "Fair enough," she replied, her tone measured.

Lucas cleared his throat. When he spoke, he said what he did for her sake, but also for his own. He had to make sure that he himself knew that this thing they'd been doing for the past couple days was not going to move any further. "As your friend, I think you should know that he loves you, too."

The look she gave him was a contemplative glance combined with a half-smile. "You're selfless," she said softly.

He shrugged. If only she knew in how many ways he was, and in how many ways he wasn't. "Thanks."

She sighed deeply, the kind of sigh that indicated that she was resigned to what she had to do. "I overreacted."

"Only a little," he shrugged with his patented smile.

She hit his arm lightly. "I should go talk to him," she said, looking around, searching for Logan.

Lucas placed a hand on her arm to stop her. She looked down at his hand as though it puzzled her and he stifled a laugh before remembering what he had to tell her and growing sombre again. "Uh, Rory…he left."

Her eyes snapped to his with alarming speed and intensity. "What?" she asked, her voice small.

"He left," Lucas shrugged helplessly. "He told me I didn't know what I was talking about and told Colin to get you home safe."

"Inconsiderate ass," she grouched, polishing off her drink.

"I think there's more to the story than you know," he told her gently.

"We have been together for a _while_. He should be sharing stuff with me. Wait – what did you say that made him tell you off?"

"He said he was leaving and I told him it was a bad idea."

She nodded approvingly. "You have a brain, I see."

"I did manage to get into Yale," he pointed out with a shrug.

"Well, so did my jerk of a boyfriend, but that was with a little help from Daddy Warbucks. Damn it," she muttered.

Lucas glanced over his shoulder at Colin and the group of women around him. "Listen, I don't think Colin'll be leaving for a while, so why don't you let me walk you home? You guys need to talk."

Her eyes met his, showing her gratitude, and she gave his hand a quick squeeze. "Thank you so much. But you'll have to let me pay you back. Let's have coffee sometime, okay?"

"Sure." Lucas let his hand hover in the air near the small of her back as he gently guided her through the crowds and toward the door.

* * *

Outside, Rory exhaled heavily and pulled her light coat tightly around her, more for reassurance than warmth. "I'm really sorry," she told Lucas, glancing over at him. "Again."

She appreciated the kindness in his eyes more than he probably knew. "It's okay. Again," he mimicked gently.

The walked in companionable silence for a couple moments, the only noise the sound of their feet hitting the concrete in a synchronized beat. Rory liked it and found it comfortable, but she held the genetic need to talk to fill air. "So tell me about yourself," she said casually. "I basically asked you out," she added with a nervous smile, "but all I know about you is that you're from North Carolina and that you've written a book. Which is amazing, by the way."

"Thank you," he inputted graciously.

"So tell me about you. What's your life story, Lucas Scott?"

He chuckled in a secretive way. "Oh, Rory Gilmore. My life story is long and strange and dramatic. It would take a few hours to tell."

"Come on!" she coaxed, playfully smiling at him. "Give me the Reader's Digest version."

"That's what I was describing," he shot back teasingly. "To tell it to you full-out would take a good decade."

Rory frowned. She took a deep breath and said daringly, "I think you just wanna be mysterious."

His eyebrows rose. "Maybe I do."

"Well, that'll change when you get your book published, right? Then I won't be the only one to know your life story. The whole world will."

He laughed in earnest. "The whole world, huh? The whole world is not going to read my book."

"You never know," she replied, feeling the kind of confidence she generally associated with being in her hometown, where she was kept safe from ever feeling stupid or silly.

"Yeah, I guess I don't. But from what it looks like, no one's going to read it. I've come to terms with it now, I just wish I'd stop getting letters of rejection."

"I'm sorry," she said, truly feeling bad for him. Something told her that he was a great writer. As a huge bookworm, she could pick up the vibe.

Lucas shrugged.

"Hey!" she said, suddenly inspired. "Why don't you let me read it? I edit the school paper, so maybe I could help…I mean, I know it's totally different, but I could try."

He shook his head and she dropped the act, confessing, "I really, really want to read it. I just _know_ that it's good, I know it. Please?"

"Thanks for the offer, and the…curiosity and faith are also appreciated, but no. The thing is," he sighed. "I think I do know what's wrong with it, and why no one's willing to invest the time and money."

"Yeah?" She could feel her eyes widening.

"Yeah. It doesn't feel like it's done yet. It's like there should be more…there just isn't."

"So write more," Rory suggested gently.

He smiled. "It's not that easy. It's my life. And…there's nothing more to write. It's like I have to wait for it to write itself."

She nodded. Waiting for your life to move on was hard enough, needing it to move on so that you could accomplish your dream had to be even harder. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well…I'm hoping something will happen soon. If not…I'll move on."

Rory shook her head adamantly, her heart aching for him. "No. It's what you want. Don't give up on it. Something will happen, Lucas. I know it."

"And why should I trust you?"

She shrugged, suddenly feeling vulnerable. "I…don't know. But please do."

"I guess we'll see, won't we?"

She nodded. "We will. Definitely."

The subject was closed and the conversation stopped again for a moment. Rory wanted to leave it alone. She could tell that Lucas was someone very comfortable with quiet, and communication without words. Rory, too, liked those kinds of connections, but she was very verbal, she couldn't help it. Annoyed with herself but unable to stop, she said, "So, Lucas, I believe I told you we'd have coffee."

"Yes, you did."

"So how about tomorrow?"

His eyebrows flew up sceptically. "Are you sure? I mean, not to sound pessimistic, but you don't know what's going to happen tonight, and you have that…" he searched for a word, "_epic _evening tomorrow that you don't seem too eager to get to."

Rory looked down at her feet, embarrassed at being read so easily by this new man in her life. "Don't worry about it," she said, feeling at ease with him. "You're my friend, right? And friends come before everything else."

"Before your family? Before the guy who's pretty much head-over-heels in love with you?"

"Well, no…" she trailed off. "But you come before them because I hurt you and you've been nice to me. So tomorrow at eleven, you're going to be at the coffee place on campus, and I will meet you there."

"If that's what you want." He shrugged as if to say _your wish, my command, I'm powerless_.

"It's definitely what I want." The way she smiled at him, she knew, was a challenge, but he'd already admitted defeat: he was powerless, after all. "This is me," she said quietly, stopping in front of her impressive apartment building and smiling up at him. "Hey, listen. I'm sorry again. It was unfair of me to lead you on. I really am sorry."

Lucas nodded. "Yeah, well…it's unfair of me to say this, but…I'm not."

Rory gaped up at him, unsure of what to do. With that kind, knowing smile, he gave her a small wave and turned to walk away. "I'll see you tomorrow, Rory Gilmore," he said over his shoulder.

* * *

As he walked down the street, headed back to campus, Lucas' cell phone rang. Its ring, so loud and irritating in contrast to the silence of the street, made him jump a little. He smiled when he saw the name of caller ID. "Hey, Hales," he greeted happily.

"Luke." It was Nathan, his brother, and he sounded severely pissed off.

"Nate," Lucas replied cautiously. He wasn't going to like this, whatever it was, that much was clear.

"You are the biggest jerk in a world; I just thought you should know that."

Lucas sighed but didn't reply.

"You know who just spent three hours crying on my couch?"

"No," Lucas said, sighing again, "but I have a sinking suspicion, and I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"Luke, you can't do this."

"I _can_, Nathan; don't blame me for this. I didn't make the decisions here."

"Look, I love her, but I can only do this for so long. She needs you, Lucas, and you know it. Will you swallow your pride and come home? Please, Lucas?"

"_No_, little brother."

"I hate you for doing this to her."

"And I hate her for what she did to me."

Both brothers hung up at the exact same moment.

* * *

When Rory let herself into the apartment, feeling a little shaky from Lucas' parting words, the first thing she saw was Logan standing by the pool table, on the phone.

"I have to go," he said hastily when he saw her. "Yes, exactly. And…thank you. Bye."

She tilted her head to the side as she approached him, happy to see that he was smiling. "Who was that?" she questioned.

Logan's eyes were full of love as he held out his arms to her, and all of her restraint died as she took the remaining steps forward and snuggled into his embrace, her head against his chest. "Logan…"

"Look, Ace." She felt his chest go up and down as he sighed. "I'm sorry about tonight. I'm sorry about Cheryl, and I'm sorry that I didn't step away, and I'm really sorry that I left without you. I'm sorry I was an ass. I love you, and I want you to trust me."

"I know," she murmured against his shirt, which had that wonderful Logan smell.

"I know you're confused by me right now, and I hate that, but Rory…please just trust me for one more day. I know you're mad about the dinner party, and to tell you the truth, I am, too. But…Ace, I promise you everything will make sense tomorrow. By midnight tomorrow you will understand absolutely everything, and I'd even go so far as to think that you'll be happy about it."

"Cocky," she muttered, nudging him gently. "You promise?"

"I do."

She nodded against his chest. "I guess then…that's okay. I'm sorry I got so angry…I just…"

He silenced her with a kiss.

"Mm," she murmured when they broke apart. "I'm tired."

"I know. Me too." He let go of the hug, running his hands up and down her arms comfortingly. "Go put back on those hot Hello Kitty shorts and we can go to bed, okay?"

She smiled at him tenderly and leaned up for a chaste kiss. "I love you."

He slid his hands down her arms to take her own hands in his. Abruptly, he pulled her to him so that she basically fell into him, causing his back to hit the pool table. He arched a single eyebrow and gave her his trademark smirk. "Prove it," he dared.

She pointed an accusing finger in his face, stifling her giggles. "Sex addict."

He pointed a finger back at her. "Beautiful," he countered.

She grinned wickedly. "Mushy!" she cried, breaking away from him and grabbing the phone, which she waved above her head as she rushed to the bed and sat down crossed-legged, beginning to dial. "Wait 'til I tell all your boys…Finn and Colin and Robert…"

He tackled her, tickling, and she shrieked for a truce as he pulled the phone from her hands. She was breathless by the time he finally got it from her and tossed it over his shoulder, where it made an unpleasant cracking sound as it hit the floor. He hovered above her, their noses brushing.

She cupped his face in her hands before she kissed him. "Sorry about the phone," she said when they came up for air.

"I'm not," he said with a smile.

_Twice in one day_, she mused as Logan bent his head to kiss her neck. _Two one-sided apologies. Today, I am sorry for all the problems I create, all the things I do which are so bad that they're good. Too good._

**A/N: **Reviews are always, always appreciated.


	4. History

**A/N: **Hey, who loves filler chapters? I know I do! I'm sorry about this; almost two entire pages are composed of background most of you already know, but Rory and Lucas have to get to know one another for the story to work – I'm sure you all understand that.

Oh, all you wonderful people that review, I swear to you, I am not stringing you along. Yes, I may be slightly obsessed with Chad Michael Murray (I want to marry him, right now, this minute) but I have thirty-odd oneshots out there just screaming for my love of Rory and Logan together. Soon enough, you'll be yelling at me via your reviews, I'm sure – but I am **begging** you – don't give up. This story is my baby, and I know how it ends, and you're not going to believe me now, but you will be happy in the end. I'm not telling you anything more, because if there isn't any intrigue, then what's the fun in that? **But I really, truly think that you'll be happy no matter who you're rooting for.** If for any reason you're not, then I totally deserve all your agitation, but for now, people…have a little faith, keep writing me those wonderful reviews, and read on!

"Ohhhh I've got a lov-a-ly bunch of co-co-nuts! There they are all standing in a row…big ones, small ones, some as big as your head! Give 'em a twist…a wrist flick…wrist…twist wrist…"

Finn's boisterous singing had woken Lucas up the moment his roommates came home around three o'clock in the morning. He wandered out into the common room to see Colin seating an incredibly drunk Finn on the couch. Lucas squinted blearily at Colin. His annoyance didn't need to be voiced, it was coming off of him in waves.

"Hey, man, I'm sorry, but this really isn't my fault. And, I'm sorry again, but you're going to have to get used to it. Finn's a bit of an alcoholic."

"Alcoholic!" Finn cried, his eyes bleary and bright. "No, no. I'm not!"

"Of course you're not."

"I am not, Colin! Take that back!" Finn said petulantly.

"Fine, you're not."

"That's right, I'm not."

"It's three thirty-nine," Lucas said hoarsely.

"Go back to bed," Colin told him sympathetically. "He'll shut up soon."

"You know," Finn said sadly, staring at something in the kitchen that he apparently found interesting, "I thought she'd like me."

"She's Logan's sister's friend, Finn."

"I thought we had a _connection_. Didn't you think we had a connection?" he asked Colin sadly.

"Yes, sure, whatever."

"She had red hair."

"I know."

"She didn't even like my _accent_," he said mournfully. "Colin, isn't my accent sexy?"

Colin looked like he wanted to hit his head on a brick wall. "Sure, yes."

"Sure, what?" Finn asked, suddenly confused. He stuck out his lower lip. "I think she broke my heart."

Both Lucas and Colin rolled their eyes at that one. Lucas stepped back inside his room and closed the door. He leaned back against it tiredly.

No matter how unaffected he'd seemed when he'd spoken to his younger brother earlier, the phone call back home had upset him. Nathan was his brother, and his wife, Haley, was Lucas' best friend, but he knew that they were both upset. Nathan was simply pissed off, while Haley was deeply disappointed. Lucas was angry with them for being mad, and deep down, he was angry with himself, but he wasn't going back. No matter what he'd done, he didn't need to go through that again.

He walked back to his bed slowly and flopped onto it tiredly. Trusting smiles and stolen kisses invaded his thoughts so quickly that he sat up in bed, his eyes searching the room for something to distract him. He hadn't exactly had time to decorate, so there wasn't much there. He just sat there for a moment, breathing and trying to forget.

As he laid back down carefully, he decided to plan his upcoming day. Some more sleep would be good, and breakfast was a necessity. Maybe he'd come back to his room for a couple hours and see if he could write. For lunch…he was supposed to meet Rory, he remembered, at eleven. For coffee.

Rory. He felt guilty thinking about a girl with a boyfriend as he drifted off to sleep, but it was just so much better, so much easier, than facing the usual girl who appeared right before he gave in to his slumber. He allowed himself one small smile as he thought of the insane blue of her eyes. His body relaxed and he sighed into his pillow, ready to return to dreamland.

"You put the lime in the coconut, you drink 'em both together; you put the lime in the coconut, then you feel better!" Finn sang at top volume from right outside the door. Apparently he'd chosen a new song to serenade Colin with.

"God, what is with that kid and coconuts?" Lucas muttered into his pillow with a groan.

* * *

"Where're you going?" Rory asked sleepily, lifting her tired eyes just enough to see Logan pulling a sweater over his head.

He smiled at her and walked over to drop a kiss on her forehead. "I have to meet Colin, he thinks Finn needs an intervention."

She pushed herself up so that she was leaning back on her elbows and struggled to open her eyes more. "Wait, _what_? Is he okay? Should I come with you?"

"Whoa, Ace, it's okay…too early for jokes. Sorry."

She groaned and flopped back down onto her super-soft pillow. "You're mean. Where are you going, really?"

"I'd tell you," he said, his voice low, as he leaned down to kiss her full on the lips, "but then I'd have to kill you, and I love you too much to do that."

"Good," she murmured sleepily into her pillow. She waved him off with a lazy hand. "You go. I'll get it out of you later."

"Whatever you say," she heard him comment before the apartment door closed quietly behind him.

She opened her eyes fully and sighed, the single breath seeming to echo in the calm atmosphere of her home. She glanced at the clock. Nine thirty. She was supposed to meet Lucas in an hour and a half for coffee.

She sighed again and sank down further into the warmth of her bed. She was looking forward to seeming him, to telling him that things were good with Logan again, because that was the kind of joy one shared with a friend. Her other half, the one that wanted to jump him when his intense gaze found hers, was a little sad about announcing to him that she and her boyfriend were enjoying their perfect existence together again.

Rory sighed yet again. She needed to get up soon if she was going to make it to the coffee cart by eleven. She needed a nice, long, warm shower to start her day. Staring at the ceiling and twirling a few strands of hair around her right index finger, she envisioned her closet, thinking about what to wear. She wished she'd had enough sense to steal her mother's baby blue blazer the last time she was home, she knew it made her eyes pop.

She stopped twirling her hair and let her hand fall. She didn't need to dress to impress. It was coffee, just coffee, and that required the simplest of outfits. Jeans and that ivory-and-pink shirt her mother was always raving about. It wasn't a date, but that didn't mean she couldn't look okay. Good, even.

With her fourth sigh in a ten-minute interval, she threw off the blankets and headed for the bathroom.

* * *

"Lucas," he answered his phone as he meandered toward the coffee cart, ten minutes early for his coffee-friendship-date with one Lorelai Gilmore.

"Haley James-Scott," the voice of his long-time best friend replied.

"Good morning," he said evenly, waiting for her angry outburst.

"I'm sorry, Luke. I'm sorry about everything that's happened. I'm sorry because I know that you're scared to admit how much you're hurting and because I know that you're hurting so much that I can't even begin to understand it. I'm sorry I got mad at you, and I'm sorry that I wouldn't let it go. I'm sorry that Nathan called to yell at you. I'm sorry that you felt the need to move all the way out there, and I'm sorry that you're not here, at home, because I love having you here, and…God, Luke, she needs you. But I'm you're best friend, and I'm sorry I haven't been on your side through all of this."

He sighed heavily, running a hand over his eyes. "There are no sides, Hales."

"Okay," she said softly, letting out a breath she'd undoubtedly been holding as she awaited his response. "But if there ever are, I've got your back, buddy."

Lucas said nothing. He didn't need to.

"Tell me about that girl of yours."

"That girl of mine is…very much not mine. She and her boyfriend are a serious thing."

"I'm sorry, Luke…the last time we talked it seemed like you two could have had something."

"Apologize to me one more time, Haley, I swear…" He let the empty threat trail off. Rory had already apologized to him. As far as he saw it, the time for regret and remorse was over. "I don't know. We have a connection, I guess, but that doesn't mean it was romantic."

"Right."

"Yeah."

"What're you doing right now?"

"Going to get coffee."

"Alone?" Haley was remarkably maternal and intuitive, and she almost always knew when he was doing something he shouldn't be doing.

"Yes," he lied, keeping his tone light. "I've been up half the night because I have a perma-drunk Australian suitemate who enjoys a good song in the smallest hours of the night. A good song about coconuts, in particular. So forgive me if I'm desperately in need of a little caffeine."

"And you expect me to buy that, you big idiot?" she asked affectionately.

"Okay, so I'm meeting Rory for coffee. But I'm not lying about the singing."

"Rory," Haley said, testing the name out. "Lucas and Rory. Rory and Lucas."

"I'm sorry, Hales, did I, or did I not, mention her serious boyfriend? They're in love. There is no way in hell I'm getting involved."

"Oh, honey. Sounds like you already are."

"I'm keeping out of it," he argued.

"Lucas. What if she wants you in?"

He groaned. "Haley, did I mention the boyfriend?"

"Lucas Eugene Scott –"

"Haley!"

"- you and I both know that a significant other doesn't mean anything when two people really want to be with each other. I can't see you, but I can hear you, and I've known you forever. There's more than you're telling me."

"There's nothing."

"Nothing plus more equals something."

"Thank you, Tutor Girl, for the logic."

"Only Brooke gets to call me Tutor Girl, and you're being evasive."

"Haley."

"Okay, okay. Listen, I called because someone wants to say hi. You want to talk to your nephew or what?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Uncle Lucas!" a five-year-old voice cried happily about fifteen seconds later.

"J-Luke!" he responded just as enthusiastically to his namesake, godson, and nephew. "How's it going, buddy?"

"Good. Chester got lost the other day and it took us five whole hours to find him, and Daddy got the team new jerseys and I got one too!"

Lucas smiled to himself as he listened to the little boy he loved dearly babble about his pet rabbit and the basketball team his father coached. "That sounds great, Jamie."

Jamie began to give him more details about his schoolmates and his own kiddie basketball team just as Lucas spotted Rory walking toward him. She was looking down at the ground, and Lucas automatically followed her eyes, so when he then went on to take in her appearance, he did so from the ground up. Brown boots, jeans, pink-and-white shirt that had some complicated design that made her look even more like porcelain doll than she normally did. He smiled to himself. "That's all awesome," he told his nephew earnestly. "Listen, James Lucas Scott, I'm sorry, but I need to take off. You give your mom a big hug from me, okay?" he asked, knowing that Jamie would appreciate the responsibility.

"Okay. Bye Uncle Luke!"

Lucas flipped his phone shut just as Rory looked up, and he waved. She gave him a big, bright smile and waved back. She lightly jogged the last few steps toward him and wrapped him up in an enthusiastic hug. He staggered back a little. "Whoa, hey, good to see you, too."

She blushed, but tried to make a smooth recovery. "Well, I'm just happy to see you."

"And why's that?"

"Because," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're about to buy me a cup of the elixir of life, and you are therefore a very, very good friend."

* * *

"You know," Rory said, feeling a little ashamed, "when I said you were about to buy me a cup of coffee, I didn't actually mean that you…had to buy me a cup of coffee. I could've paid for my own…"

Lucas dismissed her words with a wave of his hand. "Rory. It's two dollars. It's okay."

"It's actually more like three fifty," she corrected, biting her lip. "But thank you."

"You seem happy," Lucas commented as they ambled away from the coffee cart. "I'm guessing that means everything's okay. You guys kissed and made up?"

She blushed automatically; they had done more than kiss. "Yeah. Things are good."

"Good," he agreed as they stopped in front of a bench and seated themselves.

They sat facing each other with their jumbo cups of coffee. He straddled the bench, while she sat sideways, one leg pulled up. "Mm," she said happily as she took her first drink. "Bliss."

"You really are an addict," he observed.

"And proud of it," she giggled. Rory searched his face. She herself felt open and joyful and talkative. "Tell me about your life, Lucas. Pretty please," she added teasingly. "I want to know."

"Why? Why do you want to know?

"Because. You're so…you're interesting. You're intriguing. I want to know everything. All of your dirty little secrets," she added with an eyebrow lift and a small lick of her lips that would have made her mother proud.

She could tell just by the way he smiled at her that he didn't think she wanted to – or need to – know all of those things. "Are you sure you want to get into this?"

"I'm positive."

"Okay. Well, my father is the mayor of the town I grew up in. Tree Hill, North Carolina. Basketball is a really big deal there, high school basketball. He played as a kid, and it was his…true love, I guess. He and my mom were high school sweethearts. She thought that one day they'd get married. They were wealthy and happy and in love and seconds away from their dreams. They were seventeen, you remember that feeling? When the world was so scary but it was just there, waiting for you to conquer it?"

Rory nodded as he voiced what she had once thought. "I remember," she said quietly, waiting to see what this would lead to.

"When they were still seventeen, still kids, my mom got pregnant. With me," he added needlessly.

She stared at him for a moment and then grinned. "Shut up!" she cried happily. "Really?"

He looked bewildered as he chose his words carefully, "What? Are you…a fan of…teenage pregnancy?"

Rory laughed and let her hand touch his for a moment. "No, no, I just…my mom had me when she was sixteen."

"Really?" he asked her back in wonderment.

She held her coffee cup up and sat straighter. "Here's to mistakes," she said, knowing that he wouldn't take offense. He, of all people, would know what it was like to live her life.

"Here, here," he cheered, smiling at her and tapping his styrofoam cup to hers.

"I have never met anyone as unwanted as me," she joked.

He laughed out loud, pressing his hand to his mouth to avoid spewing coffee everywhere. "Neither have I."

"So tell me more, tell me more."

"Well…Dan didn't stop chasing his dream. He left my mom to go play college basketball. And, here's the really interesting part of this whole story…before I was even born, just months after he left my mom, he got the girl he met in college, Deb Lee, pregnant."

"Ouch," she said sympathetically, incredibly fascinated with his story.

"They got married. They moved back to Tree Hill a few years later. Nathan – my brother – and I grew up together. We lived in the same town, we went to the same schools, but…he was the star of school basketball, and I wasn't popular, I played street ball. Nathan was dating…" he hesitated. "Nathan was dating a cheerleader and partying all the time. He struggled in school, but I did well. I had my boys and Haley James, my best friend…we were just hanging in there," he shrugged. "Nathan was the chosen one, you know? The wanted son, the one raised by both parents. I had my mom, and she's everything to me, and my uncle, Dan's brother. But Nathan still got all the benefits of being a Scott. Dan never claimed me unless he had an ulterior motive."

"Ulterior motive?" Rory asked, her reporter instincts on high alert.

"The man is evil. Rory, you don't want to know the rest. There's so much more."

"I like listening to you," she argued, enjoying the ability to just sit there and study his face, to read the things he didn't say in the folds of the skin on his brow and the corners of his mouth, the set of his chin.

"A lot of stuff happened. Love triangles," he sighed, as if admitting it was painful. "People got hurt, but we also all became friends. Haley and Nathan, weird as it might have been, fell in love. They got married in high school, and Haley got pregnant senior year. Nathan got emancipated, and his mom fell apart as she realized what an ass her husband was.

"There was this…psycho stalker guy, and one of my old friends brought a gun to school and ended up killing himself…my uncle died that day, too, because my father killed him. My uncle was dating my mom and she was pregnant with his baby. They have a daughter; she's five now, her name's Lily.

"Uh, well, we played basketball together, Nathan and me, and we became friends. He got into a bad fight and got injured and never ended up playing in the NBA. That broke him for a while. We had some big bands come and go our town, actually, my mom and Nathan's mom owned a pretty popular club, so we got on the map a little bit.

"And, well…people moved away, and new people came to town, and I saved my dad's life at one point, and my…friend, her birth mother showed up out of nowhere and then died of cancer. My other friend started a fashion line while still in high school. Nathan and I found out that our dad had a heart condition, and the chances of having it were one in two. It's me, I have it, and I had to give up full-time basketball, which I loved. And, you know, there was drinking and drugs and betrayal and jail time…all that typical high school stuff."

Rory stared at him. Her coffee was getting cold, but she was lost in his eyes, which held emotion so intense it was smouldering. "I'd tell you to be serious…but you clearly are."

He laughed lightly, breaking eye contact. "If it's bad, it happened in Tree Hill."

"I can tell," she said softly. "I'm sorry," she added. At his confused gaze, she clarified, "About your uncle. And…your father. And your friend, the one who committed suicide. And your friend's mom, if she meant anything to you. And your heart. I'm sorry."

He gave her a comforting smile that reassured her that he was okay about everything. "Everyone's come to terms with everything. It was hard, but I guess you…kind of get used to the drama."

Rory paused, opening her mouth and then closing it quickly. She had a question she wasn't sure she wanted answered. But, as a friend, she felt that she could ask it. "You mentioned love triangles, but you never got specific. You never fell in love? There's no girl?"

His emotion-packed eyes closed off and grew cold so fast she would have thought that she'd imagined all the feeling they'd been exuding before if it hadn't been so intense. "There was a girl," was all he said.

_A girl_, Rory marvelled as she watched his guarded expression with kind eyes. _All that has happened to this guy in his life, and the one thing that makes him clam up is a girl._ She was jealous. She wanted to be that girl, the one with the power to break his heart that badly. Her heart immediately ached for Logan as she felt the onslaught of betrayal. Was she that girl for him? Could she be that girl for anyone? She studied Lucas sadly, and without thinking, wrapped her arms around him. Her heart ached for him, too, and his many losses.

She had a minor epiphany in that moment. She vowed, to herself, to become that girl with Logan, and to love him with all she had. And she vowed, to herself, that she would be the best friend she could be to this boy who so clearly needed someone to love him – in whatever way.

"Alright," she said quietly when they released each other. His facial expression had relaxed again. "We've done the tragedy genre. Let's do my life, now, okay? Plenty of drama, but at least I've got a little comedy too."

He sighed, relieved, and took a long drink of his coffee. "That sounds great."

"Okay. So, my mom grows up in high society with her boyfriend, my dad. She got pregnant when she was sixteen. Everyone wanted them to get married, but instead she ran away to this little town, Stars Hollow, where I live, and got a job at an inn. Eventually she opened her own inn, and it's amazing. I got into Chilton Academy when I was sixteen, and we had to re-enter that world she hated so much…especially when it came to her parents. But I love my grandparents, and there's still baggage, but things got better, over time. My mom is engaged to Luke, who serves the most amazing coffee in the world at his diner. I dated two guys in high school because I was shy and a huge bookworm, honestly. I only had one friend, Lane, whom I still adore. My mother is my best friend. I wanted to go to Harvard all my life, but I ended up here because in the end, it was the best choice. And now I'm here, with Logan, and not that far from home, doing the school thing."

He grinned at her. "So much simpler than my story."

"I write for a paper," she shrugged. "I summarize well. And, I admit, there was one love triangle in my life, but there were no guns or drugs of health issues. Or sports," she added with a wince, to lighten the mood.

"Your dad? He was never involved?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, my dad. He drifts in and out. He and my mom have been off and on for years, but it never works out and she always gets hurt. He has another daughter. My sister, Gigi, she's four."

"Only a year younger than my sister."

She nodded, and told him what she'd never really come out and said to anyone before: "I love him, and all I need is my mom, but I sometimes wish he just could have done it right with me, like he is with her. They were both sixteen, and they were both scared, but she handled it. Why couldn't he have?"

He placed a hand on her knee, ducking his head to meet her shy gaze. "Story of my life, Rory Gilmore."

She cracked her angel grin. "Literally."

**A/N: **I would be beyond happy right now if you clicked that little button and sent a review my way. Reviews seriously make my day, and you have no idea how much they encourage me to write faster.


	5. Confusion

**A/N:** Okay, so I'm spoiling the hell out of you all with these constant updates, but the last chapter was mostly filler and I'm going to be away for a few days, so you'll have to wait.

I just want to say thanks for reading, seriously. I never encountered a crossover I liked, and for that reason always avoided them, so it really means something if you take the time to read this. It means even more if you type up a nice pretty little review. ;) Read on!

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mom!" Rory waited, screwing up her face in confusion as she heard her mother take a deep breath before she replied.

"Hey, sweets," she said hesitantly.

"What's wrong? Something with Luke?"

"No, honey…nothing's wrong. What about you, how're things with you?"

"Things are fine," Rory said, frowning. "Mom, seriously, what's up? Why are you being all concerned and cryptic?"

"Rory, honey, fruit of my loins, everything's fine, I…I promise you."

"That was convincing," her daughter responded sarcastically. "And please don't call me that."

"Call you what, loinfruit?" her mother asked innocently.

"Mommy," she sighed.

"Okay, kid, spit it out. What'd'you want?"

"I can't just call my fabulous mother to talk?"

"Of course you can, honey; now tell me what you want."

"I want to wear your blue dress," Rory pouted, knowing her mother would be able to sense her facial expression even through the phone.

"Oh, Rory," Lorelai sighed. "You know, sweetheart, how much I love that dress."

"I know."

"So that means you owe me _big time_ if I'm awesome enough to lend it to you tonight."

"I love you, I love you, I love you."

Lorelai chuckled wickedly. "I expect more than that and you know it."

"I know," Rory laughed. "So can I wear it tonight? Please?

"Of course you can. You want to come down here and we'll drive to hell together?"

"Stop calling Grandma and Grandpa's place _hell_. And I can't, I have some newspaper stuff to do and then I'm driving down with Logan. Can you give it to me there?"

"Problem," Lorelai stated simply. "I know infinite ways of sneaking out of that house, but I don't really know how to sneak in so that you can change and then drift downstairs looking amazing. You have to look absolutely gorgeous when my mother opens that door, or it's my fault."

Rory rolled her eyes affectionately. "Okay, just wait for me outside then. I still have a key to the pool house, I can change in there."

"Yes, right, just make me your slave. You need anything else? Curling iron, jewellery, shoes?"

"Jewellery would be good," she admitted sheepishly.

"You're such a thief, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore. I thought I raised you better than that."

"You raised me fantastically. I gotta go, but we'll meet there, right?"

"Yeah, and I'll bring that pretty silver necklace…but listen, honey."

"Oh, now you tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Whatever it is you've been avoiding telling me as we discussed clothes and my upbringing."

"Rory, I just…I love you, okay?"

"That's not a secret and we both know it," she told her mother gently.

"Who said there was a secret? I'll see you tonight, okay, hon?"

"Yeah, see you then," Rory replied, taking a moment to stare at the phone in utter bewilderment for a moment after she hung up. Something was clearly going on with her mother, and though it worried her, she knew she shouldn't be _too_ concerned. If Lorelai Gilmore could do anything, it was taking care of herself, and she had the world's biggest support system in their tiny town. Nonetheless, Rory was anxious to see her so that she could truly know that everything was alright.

"Hey, beautiful, where've you been?" Logan asked as he came out of the bathroom in only his boxers, towel-drying his hair.

She smiled appreciatively at his lack of clothing. "Where've _I_ been? I think you need to answer that question first, mystery man."

"I told you, Ace…it's a secret."

"Well…" she said, pushing herself up to sit on the pool table. "If you get to have secrets, than so do I."

"Do you?" he asked, dropping his towel and walking over to her, standing in between her legs.

She smiled and nodded as he placed his hands on either side of her. "Yes, I do," she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs lightly around his, resting her heels at the back of his knees. She leaned in for a heavy kiss, lifting her legs so that they were fully wrapped around her waist.

He groaned as he pulled away from the kiss. "We can't do this now."

She pouted at him, leaning back in and capturing his lips with hers. "Why not?"

"I have a thing to get to."

"I want you," she told him, letting go of her own resistance and allowing her eyes darken. She knew he wouldn't be able to refuse those words. Taking full advantage of the hold she knew she had on him, she ground her hips against his for the briefest of seconds.

He groaned again, practically growling into her mouth as he kissed her fiercely. "I want you, too, Ace…you have no idea. Or maybe you do," he corrected with that smirk as he felt her legs tighten around him, "but I really have to go right now."

She pouted as he pulled away, grabbing a pair of pants and pulling them on. She leaned back, resting her weight on her hands, as she watched him button up his shirt. He strode to the kitchen, guzzled an entire glass of ice-cold water, and avoided looking at her for a minute. "Then when do I get you?" she finally asked, embracing how emboldened she felt in the moment, the unadulterated lust in his eyes giving her more confidence.

He smirked back. "Tonight, Ace, I'm all yours."

She pretended to be shocked. "At my grandparents' house? Oh, Logan, I couldn't possibly."

He grinned back at her. "When we get home," he told her with a slight roll of his eyes.

"I'll miss you until then."

"You have no idea," he told her again as he picked up his wallet. He walked over to her and placed a tender kiss on her temple, his hand resting temporarily on her thigh, before he crossed the apartment in eight quick strides and disappeared out the door.

She laid back fully on the pool table, breathing heavily. She bit down on her lower lip to keep from smiling. She sighed dreamily, feeling like the kind of lovesick girl she never wanted to be, and started an internal countdown until they'd be back and they could pick up where they'd left off. Rory Gilmore may have been sweet and shy to the outside world, but she had her mother's mind, and it was nothing if not driven by coffee and a little bit smutty.

* * *

"Is this formal, or casual-formal? I don't even know what casual-formal means, I'm pretty sure that it's an oxymoron," Colin ranted as he stared angrily at his closet.

Lucas was sitting on his roommate's bed eating chips and half-involved in the book he was reading. "You know, I feel like a girl. When you asked me to help you pick out your outfit, I thought you were _joking_."

Colin glared at him and cast another frustrated glance at his wardrobe. "You don't understand. If I show up to this thing wearing the wrong clothes, Emily Gilmore will have my head. Shira, Logan's mom, is going to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes, and his grandfather will start talking about Logan's inappropriately chosen friends. All of this will make my mother so ashamed that she'll try to convince my father to disown me, and despite the fact that they haven't been together in about eighteen years, he will agree with her."

Lucas stared blankly at his new friend, waiting for Colin to crack a smile. After a minute of strange silence, he said, "Wow, again, I thought you were _joking_."

"I never joke about losing my inheritance," Colin said tiredly. He held up a suit. "What do you think?"

Lucas tried not to smile as he shook his head. "I'm sorry, but this is weird."

Colin blew out an exasperated breath and began to pace. "Okay, okay. Um…aha!" he cried suddenly, startling Lucas so much that he dropped _Anna Karenina_ on the floor, losing his page.

"What?"

Colin pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Lucas. "I," he said, as though he was about to partaking on a life-threatening mission, "am going in there," he continued, gesturing to the mess of clothes. "You call Reporter Girl and see if she'll give you some idea of what I can wear to this stupid thing tonight. If I don't come out in ten minutes, call my new stepmom and tell her that I did think she was hot, I just didn't want to mess with my dad's girl – could've gotten very awkward very quickly" Colin took a deep breath and dove into the abyss that was his closet.

Lucas stared after him for a moment, and then decided it would be best to follow his directions. He scrolled through Colin's phonebook. Rory was actually listed under _Reporter Girl_ rather than her actual name. He selected the number and waited patiently through a couple rings.

"Colin, hey." Her voice sounded off, heavier, more out of it.

"It's Lucas, actually, calling on Colin's behalf. Are you okay?"

"O-oh…yeah, I'm fine just…nothing. Nothing."

"Okay, then," he commented, figuring it was better not to ask. "Colin got me to call you because apparently he desperately needs to know what to wear to this dinner party thing at your grandparents' tonight."

"It's casual-formal," she said as if that was _the _most obvious thing in the world.

Lucas raised his eyebrows even though she couldn't see him. "I heard. Colin seems to be a little flustered by that. He doesn't seem to know what it is, or what to wear, and I'm afraid he's going to end up impaling himself on a hanger if he doesn't find out soon."

Her laugh surprised him compared to the serious, obvious tone she'd used before. "I was kidding," she said lightly. "Casual-formal is the world's biggest oxymoron after 'Microsoft Works'. It's demanding two different things from you, and no one ever knows what to wear."

"But then why…"

"Don't ask, honey," she told him. Her words were playful and teasing, but he felt his heart warm at the term of endearment anyway. "These traditions came over on the Mayflower, and no matter how smart you are, your logic can never beat the Mayflower."

"Duly noted. Now will you please tell me what to tell Colin to wear? He's losing his mind and he's making me comment on the fit of his pants and it's all getting very uncomfortable."

"Ha!" she cried. "Okay, can you put him on the phone?"

"His closet ate him."

She giggled. "I need to get some stuff done at the paper anyway, so I'll stop by on the way. I'm leaving from campus, though, so I'll need some time to get ready. Do you think you can keep Colin from impaling himself for an entire forty-five minutes?"

"That seems like a very long time."

"Do boy stuff," she said as though it were that simple. "You like basketball, right? Go play some ball, dude."

He chuckled at the tough voice she put on as she made the suggestion. "Okay. But please, hurry."

"Count on it," she promised as she hung up.

* * *

When Rory'd said that she needed to get ready before she showed up, both Lucas and Colin had thought she'd appear in casual-formal wear that would give Colin some sort of guideline as to what to put on. When she showed, her hair was piled on her head in some sort of immaculate twist held together by a subtly sparkly clip, and she was wearing more lipstick and eye makeup than Lucas had yet to see her in, but she wasn't dressed for anything bordering on any kind of formal. She was wearing a black t-shirt that said _rory's going to yale_ on it and a pair of sweatpants with YALE on the butt.

"So…casual-formal means: show your school spirit?" Lucas asked.

She hit his chest lightly with the back of her hand. "I'm getting dressed there; I'm borrowing something of my mom's."

"Reporter Girl, I need your expertise," Colin broke in.

"Of course, that's why I'm here." She grabbed the tie he'd been trying on and pulled him over to his closet. "Okay…okay…no…yes! Yes, yes…no…annnnd…yes. There, you're perfect. Now try that on so that we can be sure you look hot, I'm sure some of Grandma's friends' granddaughters will be there for you to hit on," she added with a roll of her eyes.

"You saved my life, Rory, I owe you."

"Strip," she ordered, pushing him toward the bathroom and collapsing onto the bed next to Lucas.

"Thank you," he told her, aware of the way their shoulders were about a millimetre from brushing each other. "You saved my life, too. I couldn't take any more."

"It's fine. Hey, are you going to be okay all alone tonight? Do you want to come to the party? Grandma would probably be pissed, considering she doesn't know you're entire life history, but I can charm her. You should come and have fun."

He shook his head as he thought of the millions of ways it could get awkward. "Thanks for thinking of me, but I'll be fine. I've been all by myself for an entire night, before, you know. I mean, it was scary…but I survived."

She smiled and looked down. Her cell phone rang and she dug through her purse to answer. "Rory Gilmore. Oh, hi, Mom. Sorry, I thought you were Bill calling to yell at me for being late; I need to get to the YDN office. Well, yes, I am the editor, but he can still yell at me."

* * *

"Rory, honey," Lorelai said urgently. "We should have talked about this earlier, but I forgot. Can you give me a few minutes of that precious time of yours?"

"Yeah, Mom, of course. What is it? What's wrong?"

"Look, I know I'm going to see you before we go into Grandma's, but you and I really need to talk about this right now."

"_Okay_," Rory laughed. "What _is_ it?"

"Babe, that boy you were talking about –"

"Mom," Rory said quickly. "Not right now."

Lorelai gasped, but not in shock, it was more of a breath of disappointment. "You're with him now."

"I'm busy," Rory said steadily, wanting her mother to grasp the code. "I'm helping Colin pick clothes for tonight."

"Oh, God, Rory, you are."

"Later, Mom."

"I want to talk about this now," Lorelai said firmly, pulling out her mother dearest voice.

"Later. I love you," Rory added, as if that would make up for making her angry. She snapped her phone shut and turned it off so that Lorelai wouldn't be able to contact her again until that night.

"Everything okay?" Lucas asked from behind her left shoulder, and she squeezed her eyes closed.

"Yeah," she said faintly. "Fine."

"How do I look?" Colin asked, emerging from the bathroom with inquisitive eyes.

"I won't know until you model," Rory shrugged nonchalantly, leaning back against his pillows. She pulled Lucas back to join her, ignoring the many things it could have meant. "Come on, Colin. You're not well-dressed unless you're too sexy for your shirt," she sing-songed teasingly.

"How is it well-dressed if I'm too sexy for my shirt?" he asked, forgetting that he and Finn had long since learned not to question her crazy ideas.

"Never mind, darling, just do your little spin, shake your little tush on the catwalk," she said with a wicked gleam in her oh-so-innocent eyes. She felt Lucas shaking with laughter next to her, and she shot him a secretive smile. "So what do you think? Is he too sexy for my party?"

"Do you know every single lyric to that song?" he asked, amazed by her multiple references.

"Says the Spice Girls lover," she rebutted with a roll of her eyes. She glanced at Colin's alarm clock. "Want to walk me over the paper? It'll give you a good excuse to get away from this well-dressed guy," she said, speaking the last part of her sentence in a louder tone.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up. "I believe my work here is done," she said with a satisfied smirk. "I'll see you tonight, Colin." She glanced over her shoulder at Lucas. "Are you going to get up?"

"Yeah, for sure. I was just thinking: Yale should start advertising with a picture of the school's name on your ass. They'd get every nerd here in a second."

Her jaw dropped in indignation, but she didn't blush as much as she would have once upon a time. "Hey!" she cried.

"Just an observation," he shrugged.

"Are you coming?" she asked impatiently.

"Well, since you asked so nicely…"

"God, I get it!" she cried, giggling. "Dirty. I should know better. Later, Colin. You rock that casual formal look."

Colin's gaze flicked back and forth between the two of them. "Thanks again, Rory. See you tonight."

* * *

Lucas dribbled his ball on the empty basketball court before throwing the ball into a perfect arc. He watched as the ball slipped smoothly through the net. "Still got it," he muttered to himself with a smile.

His cell phone, which was in the pocket of the jacket he'd shrugged off at the side of the court, began ringing. He cast the inanimate object an irritated look. Ever since he'd left Tree Hill, his cell phone had been ringing constantly with calls from his friends and family. He knew that they missed him, and he knew that they were concerned about him, and that they were at least a bit upset with him, so the excessive telephone calls didn't surprise him that much.

He waited through five rings, but the incessant trilling didn't cease. He made a deal with himself: if whoever it was even began to lecture him the slightest amount within the first two minutes of the phone call, he gave himself full permission to hang up on them.

He dug the phone out of his jacket pocket, pressed the little green button, and put it to his ear. "Hello?" he asked tentatively.

"Hey, you heartbreaking jackass," returned the bitter – yet somehow adoring – voice of the girl he thought he'd loved eons ago. "How's the Ivy League?"

He felt drained as he sat down on the floor of the basketball court, and with the push of a single red button, hung up on Brooke Davis.

* * *

"Hey, my beautiful daughter," Lorelai said, her voice rich with relief as she wrapped Rory in a tight hug.

"Hey, Mom, sorry we're late," Rory told her mother. When she and Logan had arrived, twenty minutes behind schedule, Lorelai had been leaning up against the side of her jeep, nervously tapping her foot as she chatted idly with her husband-to-be and sipped a cup of coffee.

"Oh, baby, don't worry about it," Lorelai said, taking a long drink of coffee before continuing her rambling: "I mean, tonight of all nights, you can be as late as you want to."

Rory scowled, confused. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Lorelai said quickly, but with quiet confidence. "Just that you're the angel of clan that's throwing this bash tonight. What could you possibly do wrong?"

Rory offered her mother a nervous smile as a reply.

"Ace, I love those sweats, but how about you put on that dress you've been raving about so we can get in there?"

Lorelai looked over at Logan, almost sadly. "Hey, you," she said, scolding him playfully. "We're never in a hurry to enter hell." She reached into the back of her Jeep and grabbed a garment bag. "C'mon, honey, let's turn you into Audrey Hepburn. You boys wait here and talk…man talk, or…whatever men do," she said with a dismissive flick of her wrist before wrapping her arm around her daughter, swinging the garment bag over her shoulder as they walked away with synchronized steps.

Rory smiled as they walked away swiftly and elegantly with their arms wrapped around each other. It was in moments like these, when they left others standing slightly stunned, amused, and intrigued in their wake, that they were just the Gilmore girls again, mother and daughter against the world.

"Shh," Lorelai whispered as they tiptoe-ran across the property, trying to sneak to the pool house without getting caught.

Rory giggled, feeling like a little kid again, with the security of her mother's arm around her keeping her safe from everything. She stuck her key into the lock and turned. "Bam!" she cried in a whisper.

They laughed as they tumbled into the pool house, which was still full of boxes and ladders. They turned on only one light so that they wouldn't alert Emily to their presence there, and then proceeded to raid Richard's old liquor collection.

"Night cap, Ms. Gilmore?" Lorelai asked her, whipping out a dusty bottle with a flourish and digging through the cupboards for glasses.

"But of course," Rory answered as she unzipped the garment bag. "Oh," she said softly when she saw the dress. "It's even prettier than I remember it."

"It _is_ pretty, isn't it?" asked Lorelai, taking a drink. "Now put it on and let me see."

Rory smiled, enjoying the moment alone with her mother. She pulled off her _rory's going to yale_ shirt and her mother automatically took it from her to fold.

"Sweets?" Lorelai asked hesitantly, setting the shirt to the side as Rory stepped out of her sweatpants. "Rory, we need to talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about," Rory replied, reaching for the dress.

Lorelai placed a hand on the dress, holding it down and keeping it from her. "Honey, stay with me for a second, here. I didn't say anything when you told me about your crush, but now I know that we really have to discuss this seriously. I need you to look into your heart, right now, because if there's something more there, with this guy, you need to do something about it."

"Mom! Don't be so serious. You said it yourself, it was just a crush. He looks like Tristan and it threw me off. Lucas and I are friends now. You're right –"

"Lucas?' Lorelai asked, her voice shaking. "Seriously? Huh. Lorelai and Lucas," she muttered, as if the names had the same significance of 'Romeo and Juliet'. "

"Mom, don't be ridiculous," Rory insisted angrily. "Just because I have the same name as you doesn't mean we need to marry guys with the same names."

"I know, babe, I just…maybe it's a sign."

"Mother," Rory sighed.

"What? It could be, Rory! Please, honey, _please_ tell me if you're thinking that maybe there's just a tiny bit more than friendship there."

"Mom. No."

Lorelai clasped her hands together and leaned toward her one and only offspring. "You guys are _connected_ Rory, I could just tell by the way you talked about him, and I haven't even met him yet. It's okay if you're questioning things, baby, it's okay, but you need to be honest with yourself."

"I _am _being honest with myself!" Rory shouted.

"And you're getting pretty damn upset for someone who's so sure of her relationship!"

"God, Mom, why are you doing this? Why now? I love Logan. Let it go."

"I can't, Rory, I –"

"Well, then, that's your problem, because I don't need to question anything. I have my answers."

"Rory. Look my in the eye, really look at me, and tell me –"

"I am not doing this now!" she yelled, her heart beating much too quickly in her chest. She couldn't lie to her mother. She wasn't even going to go there. "I am not doing this right now while Logan's waiting for me, and I'm in this stupid pool house in my underwear!"

Her mother unclasped her hands and lifted them in surrender. "Okay," she whispered, nodding to the dress to indicate that Rory should put it on. "It's…nice underwear," she offered lamely, trying to dissolve some of the tension, as Rory slipped her arms through the straps, complimenting her daughter's black, lacy lingerie.

"Don't be weird," Rory muttered, wishing she could stop feeling like she had to cry. She struggled with the zipper in the back until her mother's comforting hands on her shoulders gently turned her around.

"What? I'm just saying." Lorelai kept her voice light as she slid the zipper up its tracks and placed a soothing hand on her daughters back. "That is the kind of underwear that will blow the mind of that beautiful boy of yours."

"This is crossing into even weirder territory," Rory replied, keeping her eyes closed until she was sure they weren't watery.

Lorelai turned her back around. "Look at me, sweetie."

Rory carefully let her eyelids rise and met her mother's gaze, their identical eyes holding the same searching expression.

"I love you, Rory," her mother said seriously. "And I need you to know that no matter what, I'm always here, and I'm always on your side."

Rory was thankful for her mother's words, she was, but she also wished that Lorelai would just stop and leave her alone. "There are no sides," she muttered, pulling back from Lorelai's grip. Despite the love and understanding in the older woman's eyes, she also saw that classic determination, and she knew there was only way she could truly get Lorelai to give up: a low blow, one that she delivered shamefully and that she would never be proud of. "I don't know what you and Luke are going through right now," she said, unable to meet her mom's eyes, "but you need to work it out soon, and whatever it is, leave me the hell out of it."

**A/N: **Reviews are wonderful things.


	6. Revelation

**A/N: **Thanks again for reading. I know that this chapter is clichéd and predictable, but the entire story won't be that way, I promise. Any other actions/reactions would have been out of character. Let me know what you think. Read on!

Rory smiled to herself as Logan snuck up from her behind and nuzzled her neck. "You look amazing."

She turned around, accepting the drink he'd fetched for her and wrapping her unoccupied arm around him. "You don't look half bad yourself," she said as though completely unaffected.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," she laughed.

"Rory!" Yet another one of her grandmother's friends was approaching, so she plastered of her society smile and pulled her hands away from her boyfriend's body. "We're the Fredericks, good friends of your grandmother," the woman assured her as her husband stood next to her, nodding and smiling. "Just _look_ at what a beautiful young woman you've grown in to. Emily and Richard are just _so proud_ of you."

"That Gilmore breeding must skip a generation," her husband commented amicably, and Rory froze.

Did he not realize that he'd just insulted her mother? Didn't even rich, old men know that the one golden rule was never to insult someone else's mother unless you were _really_ out to make an enemy? Automatically, she sought out her mother in the large, imposing room. Lorelai and Luke were standing near a wall, making pointless conversation with some business partner of Rory's grandfather's. Lorelai offered her a weak smile, but Rory could see that she'd hurt her mother, and she felt the sudden urge to take out her self-hatred on the horrible, stupid, ugly old man standing in front of her.

Logan placed his left hand on her elbow, calming her. "Good evening," he said, sticking out his hand to shake and leaning up to kiss Mrs. Frederick's cheek. "Logan Huntzberger."

"Of course, dear. You have that Huntzberger smile. Oh, my, how silly of me! Logan, darling, you know our granddaughter, don't you? Kaitlyn?"

Logan's smile froze in place. "Maybe I do."

"Oh, of course you do! I remember, very specifically, when she told me you two were dating."

Rory arched an eyebrow in her boyfriend's direction as he helplessly shrugged, his eyes pleading with her. She tried to think of some way to tell him that she wasn't going to get angry this time. The past was the past. She slipped her hand into Logan's, intertwining their fingers, and felt reassured when he squeezed her hand tightly.

"Kaitlyn! Sweetheart, come over here," Mrs. Frederick was insisting.

"Logan!" Kaitlyn cried, not even bothering to acknowledge her grandparents. She appeared a year or two younger than Rory, and her smile was sly and sultry. "Hey, you." Taking a step closer, she added, "I've missed you."

Rory fumed internally as Logan's grip on her hand grew deathly tight. What was _with_ these girls? Was she, the girl who'd been attached to Logan's side all night, the girl whose grandparents were throwing this thrilling shindig, invisible to them?

"Kaitlyn," Logan finally said stiffly. "Nice to see you again."

"We'll leave you kids to get reacquainted," Mrs. Frederick declared, pure joy lighting up her face as she dragged her husband off.

"Sorry, Kaitlyn, but I think I see someone I promised I'd talk to," Logan said, politely but obviously brushing her off.

"Not so fast," she insisted, pressing a perfectly manicured hand to Rory's boyfriend's chest. "I really have missed you. It's been too long since we've…seen each other."

"Kaitlyn," Logan all but growled menacingly.

"What? I know you're with her now," she assured him, flicking her eyes carelessly in Rory's direction. "But we all know that with you, it's never really serious. I'm always waiting for more, baby," she said, leaning up to give him a not-so-chaste, open-mouthed kiss on his jaw that he immediately pulled back from. "Remember that," she added confidently before she turned away.

Annoyed, Rory asked, "Seriously? Her? You couldn't screw someone a little less…" unable to help herself any long, she laughed a little, and Logan pulled her close to him quickly, his relief at her amusement palpable.

"I know, she's a real piece of work, isn't she?"

"Yeah!" Rory cried laughingly, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a quick grandparents-in-the-room appropriate kiss.

A flash came out of nowhere from the right and she blinked hastily as Logan placed a steadying hand at the small of her back. "What…"

"Oh, you two are just so _precious_," Emily Gilmore gushes as the photographer snaps another shot of the young, shocked faces.

"Grandma…why did you hire a photographer?"

"Oh, Rory, don't worry, I hired two. I know very well that if you just hire one photographer, you gets as many horrible shots as you do good ones," her grandmother replies with a comforting smile. "The incompetence, I tell you."

As Emily walked away, hurrying off to yell at someone for placing garnish on a tray. Rory stared after her. "She's finally lost it. Emily Gilmore has finally cracked," she marvelled.

Logan laughed, but his amusement quickly disappeared when they noticed another elderly society couple headed their way. "Let's dance," Logan suggested spontaneously, tugging her after him by the hand. "At least that way we can avoid conversation."

She smiled fondly at him as they danced. "I'm surprised at you, mister. You haven't even suggested stealing booze and forming a sub-party yet."

He shrugged. "I'm fine just being here with you. You look incredibly amazing," he added before he pressed his lips to hers. They both heard the tell-tale _click_ of the photographer's camera.

They laughed against each other's mouths, breaking the kiss. "What the hell," Rory giggled rhetorically, resting her chin contentedly on his shoulder. She saw that her mother and Luke were standing off to the side of the room. Luke, who was adjusting his tie, looked uncomfortable, but Lorelai just looked sad. Rory knew she should apologize soon. She'd had no right to get mad at her mom – Lorelai was just doing her job: looking out for her daughter.

Prolonging the inevitable, she clung to Logan, enjoying the feeling of him. She closed her eyes as she tucked her head against his chest, smiling when she felt him kiss her temple before resting his chin on top of her head.

"Heyyyyy," a female voice crooned, drawing out the single syllable. Pouting, Rory lifted her head from its comfortable position and opened her tired eyes. A raven-haired gorgeous girl was batting her eyelashes t Logan. Rory could feel his entire body tense up.

"Cassandra," he said stiffly. "Hi."

She looked at Rory like she was dirt on the sole of one of her Jimmy Choos. "Let me steal young Huntzberger here, just for a second, Lori," she said, all but prying them apart. "This is my favourite song."

"It's Rory," Logan corrected her tersely on his girlfriend's behalf. Rory had to admit to herself that it was the tiniest bit funny, considering that he himself refused to call her by her actual name most of the time. "Look, Cassandra-"

"Hey," Rory interrupted quietly, cutting him off and placing her hand on his chest, over his heart, hoping to calm him. Cassandra may have been aggressive and beautiful, but from Logan's reaction to her presence, she didn't feel that the dark-haired girl was a threat to her relationship. "It's okay. You dance. I need to go talk to my mom." She kissed the corner of his mouth and made a beeline for Lorelai and Luke, pausing to glance at him over the shoulder.

"I love you," he mouthed, clearly glad that she wasn't angry.

Rory heard Cassandra scoff. "That's rich. You _love_ her. Sure. Logan Huntzberger, in love. Good one."

Rory internally scoffed right back at the nerve of that stupid girl. She carried on toward her mother and her mother's fiancé. "Mother," she greeted softly when she arrived in front of them, glancing down at her feet before she could look Lorelai in the eye.

"Daughter," came the reply, accompanied by a ghost of her mother's usual smile.

"I'm sorry," Rory said, coming right out with it. "What I said was rude and unfair."

"Oh, Rory. I just want what's best for you, kid, that's really all."

"I know, Mom, and I love you and I love that. But I'm happy. I promise. I know I lashed out at you, but it wasn't because you were saying things that scared me," she said, carefully fibbing. "It was just because I was tired of you doubting me."

"I trust you, honey, you know that. I worry some time. I'm your mom, it's what I do."

"I know," Rory replied, full of understanding.

Lorelai sighed, closing her eyes for the briefest of seconds. "Okay, babe. Just remember what I said," she added, taking her daughter's hand. "I'm always on your side."

Rory didn't want to get into it again, so she just nodded and squeezed her mother's hand before releasing it.

"Go back to your boy toy," Lorelai instructed, jutting her chin in Logan's diretion with a sad smile playing on her lips. She leaned forward on impulse, cupping Rory's face in her hands and dropping a kiss on her forehead.

Rory smiled at her, a silent thank you for letting it go. "I'll see you later, Mom. Save me a dance, Luke?" she asked her stepfather-to-be with her absolute sweetest smile.

He returned the gesture but shook his head. "I don't dance," he replied gruffly. It was no secret that he adored her; he was the most prominent father figure in her life, but he was also not the dancing type. However, when both Gilmore women pouted at him, he sighed and gave a small nod, but committed only to a, "Maybe."

Rory grinned at her mom, who shrugged. "Take what you can get, sweets."

* * *

Lucas hadn't known what to do alone in the suite, which was for once free of Finn's singing and Colin's grumbling. After eating all the leftover pizza in the fridge, he came up with the _brilliant_ idea of trying to write. Consequently, he'd been staring at the blank document on the screen of his laptop for approximately an hour, slowly fading into the kind of depression that could only be caused by writer's block.

And oh, he was blocked. Every single word he wrote was fake-sounding and absolutely disgusting. He wracked his brains, delving into the deepest recesses of his mind, hoping for some sort of inspiration. With every newly failed sentence and paragraph, he grew more and more frustrated with his boring life and complete lack of originality.

Then, determined to do something about the situation, he tried various activities that he hoped would stimulate his brain. He went for a run. He went to the library and read some Shakespeare. He did his laundry and waited for his muse to return as he listened to the steady rumble of the machine. He played countless games of solitaire, only three of which he won. He turned out the lights, laid on his bed, and listened to his La Rocca album twice. He turned on the comedy channel, hoping that laughter would stimulate his creativity. He flipped through his high school year books, looking for ideas from his past. He chugged a two-litre bottle of Pepsi, thinking that the caffeine would force his mind to pick up the pace.

Nothing.

Feeling pathetic in his desperation and his inability to compose, he called his mother.

"Lucas, my baby boy," Karen Roe said happily when she heard his voice. "Your sister and I miss you so much!"

"I miss you guys, too," he replied honestly. "How are you, Ma? How's Lily?"

They conversed idly about his sister's school friends, his mother's businesses, and his course load before Karen picked up on his mood.

"Lucas," she said gently, "what's wrong? Oh, honey," she said suddenly, as though clueing into something, "Do you miss –"

"Nope," he cut her off firmly.

"Alright," she sighed. "What is it?"

"I can't write anything," he whined.

"Oh, Luke. You're an amazing author. Just give it time."

"What if nothing ever happens? What if I never finish this damn book?"

"You _will_. I know you will," she told him with certainty. "Just be patient."

"I guess that's all I _can_ do."

"I believe in you, Luke."

"I'm your son. You're biologically obliged to believe in me."

"You and I both know that's not the only reason I do," Karen responded patiently. "Just relax. It'll happen. I have to go and put Lily to bed, but I want you to remember to wait for it. One day, Luke, your story will have its ending."

"Thanks, Ma," he sighed.

"I love you, Lucas."

"Love you, too. Kiss Lily for me and tell her that her big brother misses her. Oh, and Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for not yelling at me."

He could hear Karen's smile in her voice. "Next time."

* * *

Rory stared, stunned, at the inebriated brunette tripping away from them through the crowd.

Honor, Logan's sister, appeared by them before Rory could speak. "Oh. My. God. I am so, so sorry. Tonight of all nights." With an apologetic grin, she darted after her friend.

Rory's incredulous eyes met Logan's hazel orbs. "_Tell_ me that girl did not just pinch your butt."

The look her gave her was teasingly apologetic, a look that said _sorry, but I'm so hot, how could you possibly expect her to resist?_, but she could tell that his mind was elsewhere.

"Hey," she said softly, intimately. "What is it?" She traced the contours of his face lightly with her fingertips.

"Nothing," he replied, accompanying his answer with a quick peck on the lips.

She decided to let it go for the time being, knowing that she could get it out of him later. She looked over his shoulder to where Honor was trying to control her drunken friend. She pitied Logan's sister at once; she loved Honor, her sense of humour and her fashion sense, and she knew that there was nothing worse than having a your friend make a fool of themselves at a party your parents were attending. At least it was when you had parents like those of Honor and Logan. "I'm going to go give Honor a hand," she announced. "I'll be back in a minute. Don't get hit on by any other crazy girls in my absence, okay?"

He chuckled, kissing her nose. "I make no promises."

She laughed once and leaned up for a parting kiss. She could sense the photographer hovering again.

"Hurry back," he said, his mysterious eyes boring into hers as a smirk pulled at his lips. "I have a surprise for you."

She smiled delightedly. "_Really?_ I don't like surprises."

He rolled his eyes affectionately, letting their fingers brush until she was too far away for him to reach. "Deal with it, Ace."

Rory crossed the dance floor efficiently, weaving in and out of couples with practiced expertise. She winked at Finn, who had a pretty redhead securely wrapped in his arms. "Nice work," she whispered with a mischievous grin.

He grinned back. "Well, I couldn't have you, love, so I had to go to the next best thing."

She shot him a look. "Make sure you tell her that, I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

He just laughed. "Oh, Rory, you know my heart belongs to you."

"I'd like to give it back," she called over her shoulder softly, frowning playfully.

She passed by several of Logan's, and by extension her own, friends. "Hey, boys," she said, stealing the smouldering wink her mother was so proud of and putting it to good use as she sidled up next to them.

"Well, if it isn't Reporter Girl," Robert commented. "You know, Rory, I'm sorry to say this, but this party of yours in boring as sin."

"Sin is not _boring_," one of the other boys pointed out with a devilish smirk.

"You know what I meant," Robert replied, annoyed. "It's boring."

"I know it's boring," Rory responded evenly. "But it's not _my_ party."

They all exchanged blatant looks and she shook her head. She loved Logan's crazy-party friends, who were all assholes and yet somehow sweethearts, but she could only deal with most of them for certain amounts of time. She gave them all a dismissive wave and turned away, but not before saying, "You're the best dressed guy here, Colin."

"All thanks to you, Gilmore," he replied, holding up his glass, toasting her.

She dropped her right eyelid in another wink and sauntered off. She was a little tipsy, she realized dimly as she made her way to Honor and her wasted friend.

"Hey, Honor," she said softly, knowing that the last thing she needed to do was draw more attention to the situation.

"Rory, darling, hi," Logan's sister replied, her distracted, troubled eyes shooting upward to meet Rory's calm blue orbs, sparkling with the smallest bit of intoxication.

"I thought I could help," Rory said simply.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Honor assured her. She'd been paying attention to Rory, not her friend, so it came as a surprise to them both when the girl staggered to the right. Rory grabbed her arm and steadied her.

"Whoa there, tiger," she said, holding the girl up.

"Walker, oh my god!" cried Honor, staring at her friend with disappointment in her eyes. "You're such a drunk," she grumbled.

"Why doesn't she sleep it off up in my room?" Rory asked quietly, referring the room her grandmother had decorated for her long ago.

"Oh, Rory, really, you're a life saver."

"No problem," Rory shrugged, as she and Honor supported Walker and slipped stealthily by the elderly couples and their bored grandchildren throughout the room.

"Nice room," Honor laughed once Rory'd closed the door behind her. Despite the fact that Rory had actually resided in the room for a brief period of time (a couple weeks, that space in time that came after her grandparents found out that she and Logan were having sex, but before she'd made up with Lorelai and returned back home) its décor was the same as it had been when Emily had decorated it. Rory had been almost-sixteen at the time. There was an extra school uniform hanging in the closet, a flowered bedspread, and two NSYNC posters.

"Don't judge," Rory said with a soft laugh as she lowered Walker to the bed, steadying the girl with one hand as she reached out with the other to pull back the blankets. "Oh, she should drink something. Do you think you could sneak down the kitchen and get her a glass of water?"

"Of course. But when I come back you leave me with her and get back down there, alright? My baby brother can hardly stand a minute without you."

Rory blushed as she tossed the excess pillows off the bed. "Okay."

After Honor left, Walker peered up at her blearily, puzzled by the strange girl who was taking good care of her. "Who're you?" she asked bluntly.

Rory smiled to herself, appreciating the drunken lack of pleasantries. "Rory Gilmore. I know Honor."

Walker grinned sloppily. "Of _course_ you know Honor, you're Logan's Rory, aren't you?"

Her heart warmed a little at being called _his_, but the feminist in her, deeply instilled considering her upbringing, was annoyed. She wasn't _anyone's_. She was her own self, and she belonged to no man.

Of course, she wasn't about to launch in any sort of lecture at this point, so she simply said, "Yeah."

"It's weird that he has a girlfriend now. You. Do you think it's weird?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't think it's weird because it feels right. But I guess it is, considering his history. I mean, a year ago, when we first got serious, I never would have thought it would be possible that we would be in love and together at this point."

Walker smirked. "In love? Logan Huntzberger…does not fall in love. What're you talking about, a year ago? At Thanksgiving I wouldn't have believed that Logan could ever be serious."

Rory's face fell and she felt her heartbeat pick up, but she sternly told herself to be calm. Walker was very drunk, after all. "Thanksgiving?" she asked faintly, gently nudging the other girl's legs under the covers.

"Hell yeah. He was sleeping around like he used to, majorly, when he was like nineteen, you know? I mean, I got with him four times, and Cassandra hooked up with him, too. I think Meg did, too…and he messed around with Kaitlyn, but I never actually found out if they had sex or not. It's just weird that now he's only having sex with you, when back then it was a different girl every night." She paused. "I think I'm going to puke."

Wordlessly, Rory stepped away from the bed and walked into the bathroom. When she returned to the room she placed the garbage can beside the bed. Walker had flopped down onto her back and had her eyes squeezed shut. "Roll onto your side," Rory told her automatically. A year plus of Finn had her well-versed in caring for drunken people.

She sat down at the edge of the bed, breathing deeply. She had been with Logan at Thanksgiving. They'd been fighting, and in different places both physically and emotionally, but they'd still been a couple. He'd told her he loved her.

Walker leaned over the edge of the bed and threw up into the garbage can. Rory looked away, wincing. When Walker resurfaced, looking just as sickly as she had before, she added. "You know, don't get upset. I'm just saying. He likes sex. But that means the sex is good, right? You know what you should do?" she asked, a sudden excitement taking over. "Eat _turkey_. We hooked up on Thanksgiving Day, and he was, like, wow. Turkey must be an apro-please-ee-ack."

"Aphrodisiac," Rory corrected her, feeling tears pushing at her eyelids. She felt nauseous, but not because of Walker's vomiting.

"Walker," came Honor's stunned, hushed whisper from the doorway. She had the glass of water in a tight grip and horror was etched into every bit of her face. She set down the water and extended her hands. "Rory, don't listen to her, please."

Rory looked up at the girl she'd come to consider her sister, well aware of the intensity of the pain in her impressive eyes from the way Honor's expression melted when they locked eyes. "So she's lying?"

"Honey," Honor said softly, pleadingly. "Logan loves you."

Rory looked at the ceiling and blinked rapidly. "Oh my god, he cheated on me."

"No!" Honor cried, rushing over to sit next to her. She tentatively rested her hand on Rory's back. "Logan was hurting so much. He thought the two of you had broken up."

"That's because he doesn't know how relationships work. He never should've gotten involved in one. He never should have pulled me into this stupid world of his."

"Rory," Honor begged, her voice chock-full of compassion. "Please understand…"

"How can you be defending him?" Rory cried as she stood up, feeling like her head was going to explode from the pressure of tears being her eyelids. "He didn't just cheat on me, he cheated on me in…epic proportions! With all those idiotic, slutty girls he pretended to hate. He lied to me!"

"No, Rory, listen…"

"No!" she cried vehemently, Justin Timberlake's smile blurring in front of her eyes. To think that she'd felt guilty for thinking about Lucas for more than five seconds. To think that she had loved him so faithfully. To think that she had trusted him. Where had he been sneaking off to lately? She wondered this, feeling sick. He'd been pretending he had something fabulous planned for her. Was he really just sneaking off to meat some whore? She thought that she, too, was going to be sick. "Oh my _god_," she muttered, feeling ashamed of her love for him and her trust in him.

"Rory," Honor said desperately, standing up and reaching out to her. "Listen, I have to tell you something. Tonight –"

"Save it," Rory said harshly. "I'm sorry your brother is such a complete asshole." Turning on her heel, she left the room. She attempted to slam the door, but the expensively manufactured colonial simply slid shut behind her. She punched it and instantly regretted it as her fingers screamed in agony.

Ignoring the pain in her hand and focusing on the pain in her heart, Rory stormed back downstairs in search of the boy who'd just ruined her.

She walked past her mother, noticing the blur of Lorelai's deep green patterned dress as she stormed by. She heard Lorelai's frantic, soft call of, "Rory, honey…" but ignored it. She went directly to Logan, who had the nerve to smile goofily at her like some moron in love when she approached.

"Ace," he began, but she cut him off quickly, and loudly.

"Do _not_ call me that," she said so ferociously that many of the society members around them turned, shocked and eager for gossip. "I cannot _believe_ you, you selfish, selfish arrogant _jackass_." She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and a glass of wine from an unsuspecting friend of her grandmother's and literally pulled her bewildered boyfriend from the room, pushing him through the doorway of the next vacant room she discovered.

"Ace…"

She downed the wine in two gulps and set the glass down. "Do not call me that again."

"Rory, what is going on?"

He looked so confused, and sad, and as much as she hated it, her heart ached for him. Tears that had been burning at her eyes for nearly five minutes suddenly fell onto her cheeks. "Your little friend Walker told me that you two had a nice little hook-up during the holidays. Oh, no, I'm sorry, I think you slept with her, three times, right? And also Cassandra? And some girl named Meg? And I hear you and Kaitlyn had some fun, though you may not have actually had sex."

"Rory –"

"I'm sure there were more, though. I mean, if you want to cheat on your girlfriend, you may as well go all the way."

"We were broken up!"

"_You_ are a compete moron, and that's the only reason you stupidly _thought_ we were broken up, which we were _not_. Even if we were, how could you have moved on so quickly?"

"Rory –"

She choked on a sob, aware of how crazy she must have looked in that moment. "I loved you and you betrayed everything we had. We are _done_. I'm moving out. Don't…be at the apartment between ten and one tomorrow so I can get my stuff." She turned on her heel but he grabbed her arm.

"Ace, baby, please, you don't –"

"What?" she asked angrily, jerking her arm out of his grasp. "I don't _understand_?"

"No, you don't. Rory, _I love you_."

"Don't you dare," she said venomously as a fresh batch of tears gathered in her eyes.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the clock in the room interrupted him. In its subdued, elegant tones, it struck twelve. Midnight. The bittersweet magical hour, when carriages returned to their original state of pumpkins and reality set in once again.

Rory's heart swelled with torturous grief as she recalled his words from the previous night.

_ "I love you, and I want you to trust me…I know you're confused by me right now, and I hate that, but Rory…please just trust me for one more day. I know you're mad about the dinner party, and to tell you the truth, I am, too. But…Ace, I promise you everything will make sense tomorrow. By midnight tomorrow you will understand absolutely everything, and I'd even go so far as to think that you'll be happy about it." _

She laughed bitterly. "Yesterday you told me that _everything _would make sense by midnight. And you were right," she shrugged. "It makes a hell of a lot of sense, and I hate you for it."

She brushed by him so quickly he couldn't touch her, ignoring his desperate calls for her to come back and let him explain.

She walked out of her grandparents' house as fast as her un-athletic legs would allow, ignoring her grandmother's bewildered, astonished, and disappointed demands for her to stop and explain herself, ignoring the confused and scandalized gazes of the other guests, ignoring Honor's pleas for her to stop and _just listen_…she even ignored her mother's perpetually comforting voice calling, "Babe, stop, sweetie, please…"

Even though she knew it was irritate and inconvenience Lorelai, it was her mother's Jeep that Rory took when she peeled out of the spacious driveway. It was the only car in the lot she had a key to, besides Logan's Porsche, and she needed to escape. She would not get any relief in that stupidly luxurious car.

She needed comfort, and something deep inside of her told her where to find it. Her mind didn't know, but her heart did. Her only clear thought at the moment was that she was headed in the right direction.

* * *

Lucas had played several more unsuccessful games of solitaire before finally admitting defeat, shutting off his laptop, and taking his mother's advice. He'd raided his roommates' digs in search of movies, but had found nothing but a vast collection of Quentin Tarantino in Finn's room. _Reservoir Dogs it is, _he'd said to himself, and settled on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. After consuming all his food, which had been grossly drenched in a tone of fake-butter-product, he stretched out lazily, resting his head on a pillow. Relaxation felt good after the stress he'd put himself through that day with his efforts to compose something worthwhile.

He was drifting off to sleep just as Mr. Blonde was singing, preparing to cut off the police officer's ear, when he heard a soft knock on the door. He groaned, thinking that he would absolutely kill Haley if she'd allowed Nathan to fly all the way to Connecticut just to kick his ass. He would also kill Colin if he'd allowed Finn to wander back to the suite without supervision.

He opened the door cautiously, ready to slam it closed again if either his little brother or new friend stood there. To his great surprise, it was neither of the men he'd theorized it could be. Instead, Rory Gilmore stood in front of him, looking thoroughly broken.

Her eyes were deep red and puffy, her hair, which had been impressively styled before, was a mess. She was now wearing a gorgeous dress and heels, but her posture was defeated. She had her arms wrapped around herself so tightly he wondered if she thought she'd come undone if she let go the slightest bit. She looked up at him with her wounded eyes, then back down at the floor. Her whole body was shaking.

Lucas leaned in the doorway, feeling his eyes fill with pity and gentle understanding. He waited patiently, willing to take her lead.

It was a good two minutes before she finally spoke, lifting her chin the slightest amount. Her voice was raspy, tearful, and agonized; she seemed to choke painfully on the single syllable she uttered:

"Hi."

**A/N**: That was super-predictable, right? But maybe you thought it was understandably predictable. Or maybe, you're mad at me. Or maybe you loved it. Maybe you just want to know what's going to happen next. I'm not going to know unless you review…


	7. Aftermath

**A/N: **Can I just say one small thing? I'm sure, if you're into this, that you want to ignore my author's note and just rush in and see that cliffhanger I left you with resolved, so I promise, just one thing. If you put my story on your alert list, could you review? I know you must be reading every chapter (you're being alerted, after all) and since you clearly like it enough to take the time to click the necessary buttons so that you can be informed every single time I update, then your _opinion_ would definitely mean something to me, and I would love to get it in the form of a _review_. That's it. Sorry to start this off on a bitchy note, but as I've said before, this story is my baby and I'd like all the feedback you can give me. Good, bad, critical, constructive, analytic…I'll take it all. Read on!

Lucas Scott had many instincts. When a basketball was handed to him, he felt the need to play. When a book was within reach, he was tempted to read. But his greatest instinct had been honed into somewhat of a craft over the years, and it was the simple, basic, primal need to protect.

To save.

Seeing Rory standing in front of him looking like she'd had the worst night of her twenty-one year existence stirred that need within him. After her soft, broken greeting, his mind stopped working overtime, calmed, and he just began to do what he did best.

Lucas reached out to take both of her hands in his and gently pulled her across the threshold and into the suite, closing the door quietly behind her. "You wanna tell me what happened?" he asked softly.

She inhaled sharply, her chest heaving as she tried not to sob. Slowly, she shook her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just didn't…I needed…"

He nodded, reaching out tentatively to rub her arm reassuringly. "It's okay. It's fine. You can stay, and we'll talk it over in the morning."

After a long moment, she nodded, meeting his eyes with grateful relief in her cerulean orbs.

"Okay. Good." He placed a hand on her back and led her into his room, where he seated her on the edge of the bed. He felt her eyes follow him throughout the room as he got an old t-shirt with his high school's insignia on it and a pair of shorts out from his dresser. He placed the clothes in her arms, and her sad eyes gazed at the cotton items with a touch of confusion. Lucas lightly placed his palm under Rory's chin, tilting her head up so that he would be in her line of vision. "Hey. Have you been drinking?"

She sniffled, her eyes cloudy and troubled. "Only a couple glasses of wine," her raw voice told him. "I'm fine. I drove here."

"From?" he prodded, brushing escaped wisps of hair off her face.

"Hartford," she choked out.

"Long drive," he mused aloud, trying to figure out what could have been going on in Hartford that night.

"I just…I needed to…" she trailed off, shrugging helplessly.

"Shh, it's alright. You get changed, okay? I'll make you some coffee."

She nodded, looking back down at the clothes he'd given her. "Thank you." The words left her mouth in a painful hiss. She reached up to tuck nonexistent strands of hair behind her ear, an old nervous habit.

Lucas paused on his way to the door. He reached out and took her hand in his, holding it delicately. "Your knuckles are bleeding." His eyes bored into hers. "Rory, what'd you do?"

"I…punched a door. I was…" She trailed off as if an explanation was just too much for her to handle.

"You don't have to explain," he assured her softly. "Just sit still for a minute, okay?"

She nodded, but she only had to wait mere seconds for him to return with a warm, damp washcloth which he used to clean up the blood on her hand. She studied his concerned expression as he inspected it.

"Nothing too deep," he announced. "You're alright. You feel alright?"

She shrugged helplessly. "I guess."

"Get changed," he told her quietly. He let his hand drift over her shoulder, giving it a quick, comforting squeeze. "Everything's gonna be okay."

* * *

It took some funky arm-twisting, but Rory managed to undo the zipper at the back of her mother's beautiful dress, feeling guilty when she noticed the wrinkles throughout it. She walked over to Lucas' closet, happy to find an extra hanger. She carefully hung up the dress, hoping that her mother wouldn't eat her alive when she realized how much the dry-cleaning would cost.'

She realized the shorts Lucas had given her were basketball shorts, and therefore did not have a drawstring, just an elastic waistband. She frowned as she pulled them on. She released them at her hips and they fell right back down to her ankles. "Great," she murmured to herself, stepping out from them and kicking them to the side in frustration. Pulling her bejewelled clip out of her hair, wincing in pain as it yanked out a few brown strands of hair, she tossed it to the side and pulled the t-shirt over her head. It was warm, as if freshly from the dryer, long and cozy. It hit her just above her knees and the sleeves made it past her elbows. _Tree Hill High RAVENS_ was written on the front.

Her cell phone rang. It'd rung countless times on the drive there, but she'd reasoned with herself that talking on a cell phone while driving a vehicle was illegal in Connecticut, and turned up the music to drown the ringing out. The only CD her mother had in the car was Barry Manilow, but Rory would take that over the irritating ring of her phone.

She was aware that she must have had at least twelve messages waiting on her phone. Lorelai was probably panicked. Rory's phone just kept ringing…and ringing…and ringing. Finally, when she knew her messaging service picked up, she grabbed her phone and pressed the button that would allow her to listen to the message as it was recorded.

"Ace," Logan's broken voice said, pure and utter desperation seeping into his tone. "Please," he began, but she couldn't take it anymore. She flung the phone across the room, where it hit the wall and fell to the floor in three pieces.

She stared at it, amazed at herself, when Lucas burst back into the room, looking concerned and bewildered. He looked at his shorts, kicked off to the side, and her phone in pieces on the floor, as well as the tiny bit of paint Rory's cell phone had chipped off the wall. He finally met her eyes, his own blue orbs full of disbelief.

She shrugged sheepishly, feeling tears burning in her eyes. "I broke my phone," she said needlessly.

* * *

Lucas nodded, keeping his eyes on her face. She looked young and innocent and tortured. Her legs were pale in contrast to the navy blue tee that covered her down to her thighs. He held out the mug he'd been carrying as though he was making a peace offering. She was clearly falling apart, and it scared him a little. He knew well how to take care of someone, but everyone came apart a little differently, and he didn't yet know how it would go with her. "Elixir of life," he told her with a small smile as he pressed the cup in her hands.

Her hands shook as she accepted it, sitting down weakly on the bed and bringing the cup to her lips as she softly thanked him again.

Lucas watched her in careful incredulity as she downed the entire cup of coffee in less than two minutes. "You must have built up some kind of immunity to caffeine," he joked lightly, taking the cup out of her hands and placing it on top of his dresser, safely away from the edge.

She just sat there on the edge of his bed, trembling.

"Okay," he said softly. "You can sleep in here," he said, standing and pulling back the blankets so that she could climb into his bed. "I'll go sleep on the couch." Her reaction to those words would tell him how it was going to go.

She looked up at him with needy eyes and he nodded to himself. That was how it was, he understood.

Without another word, he got into his bed and pulled her with him. He pulled a single sheet up over them and then wrapped her in a tight embrace, resting his chin atop her head.

When she started to sob into his shirt, he wasn't surprised. When she pulled away thirty minutes later, mortified, he knew what to say to comfort her. When she insisted that she was alright, only to end up curling back into his arms five minutes later, he'd seen it coming. And when she started to cry again, only to have her choked breathing even out into the steady pattern of sleep, he waited a full fifteen minutes before allowing himself to give into sleep, pressing a reassuring kiss to her temple.

* * *

Rory awoke early in the morning; she could tell it was somewhere between five and six o'clock from the blue-ish quality of the light leaking in around the curtains. She sighed and snuggled closer to the blonde boy next to her. His hair lightly ruffled when she exhaled, and she smiled, reaching up to run her fingers through it.

Slowly, it occurred to her that everything was not as it should be. With a confused glance around, she realized that she was not at home…she was in a familiar style of room, a dorm room at Yale, but it was not one she recognized. Sitting up slowly, she spotted her cell phone lying in pieces on the floor. It was then, as her expression slowly grew horrified, that she turned to the man lying next to her, peacefully asleep. A man that was completely and totally not her boyfriend.

"Oh my God!" she cried, but she was not the only one who spoke those words.

She turned at the two new voices to see Colin and Finn standing in the doorway of the room, jaws dropped and eyes huge.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me, Rory Gilmore," Colin said tersely, and then everything flew back with intense force.

Logan. Girls. Lots of girls. Cheater. Fight.

Running away. To Lucas. For comfort. Tears.

But that was it. He'd been perfect to her. He'd gotten her clothes and asked her the important questions, but he'd also left his other questions alone until later. He hadn't forced her to talk about it, or explain why she flung her cell at the wall; he'd just handed her a nice big cup of coffee. He'd held her as she cried, mumbling incoherently, and soothed her when she ran out of tears and embarrassment set in. And when new tears somehow managed to make their way to her eyes, he held her again so that she could finally let her tired eyes rest and sleep.

He'd taken impeccable care of her, and she knew that she needed to inform Colin and Finn of that, and assure them (repeatedly) that there'd been no sex, but all she could do was stare at Lucas, impatiently waiting for him to wake up and do the explaining instead. She also couldn't help noting in the back of her mind how very in shape he was. In some other universe, where they woke up alone, she would have made a nervous joke about being _ripped_.

Lucas, feeling her stare, awoke next to her, and lazily blinked. He pushed himself up from his position on his stomach, resting his weight on his elbows as he looked at them. All three of them stared back. Rory knew that her eyes were filled with panic as she waited for his reaction and his explanation. "Oh," he said quietly. "Oh, God," he then said in realization.

Rory looked back at Colin and Finn to gauge their thoughts. Their faces made it all clear. They were totally stunned. She looked back down at herself and her eyes widened when she realized that she was wearing only one of Lucas' t-shirts and her underwear. With a glance to the boy at her left, she saw that he was only wearing a pair of sweatpants. She knew that they both looked guilty as hell.

"Not good," Lucas finally said, turning around and sitting up all the way. "Okay, guys, let's go talk about this," he said, addressing him roomies. He turned to Rory and gently ran the back of one of his fingers over her cheek. "You okay?" he asked softly, his words meant only for her ears.

In that moment, she couldn't have cared less about what Finn and Colin thought. She appreciated his kindness more than she'd ever be able to tell him. She placed her own slender hand over his strong one and smiled, leaning into his touch. "I'll be alright."

He nodded as he got up, shepherding the boys from the room. "I'm gonna make coffee. Wear anything you can find that fits."

She offered him a weak smile and flopped back down onto the bed the moment the door closed, letting her eyes fall shut again. This sucked. It really, really sucked.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" all three men demanded in unison.

"Are you seriously asking _us_ that?" Colin yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "Do you even know what's going on? Or were you two a little too _busy_ to talk?"

Lucas glared at him. "Rory showed up here at about one o'clock in the morning a complete mess. She looked like she'd been to hell and back when she got here. She threw her phone against the wall and she cried for about an hour before she fell asleep. So no, I didn't exactly get the story," he concluded, his eyes flashing. He didn't know Colin and Finn well, but he thought they'd know better than to assume that he'd take advantage of the girlfriend of one of their best friends.

"Oh, good lord of all things alcoholic," Finn muttered as he began to pace. Lucas watched him warily. "She came to you for comfort," he mused, clearly stunned that Rory would chose Lucas, out of all people. "Dear God."

"One of you want to explain to me what happened?" Lucas asked, his patience wearing thin. He wanted to know what had driven the shy-yet-bubbly girl he'd met such a short time ago to her breakdown.

"Right, okay, just let me…" Finn, for such a cool and perpetually buzzed guy, looked extremely flustered. "I gotta call Lorelai before she kills herself worrying." He pulled his cell phone out and dialled quickly. "Hey…Lorelai? It's Finn. She's okay."

Lucas could hear a fast gush of worried words garbled together on the other end of the phone. Finn listened intently, then held his phone away from his ear to ask, "Why isn't her cell on?"

"She threw it across the wall," Lucas told him again. "She was upset," he understated.

"Uh huh. Uh huh. No, I _just_ found out. She's, um…at our suite. No, we haven't been here. No, she wasn't alone. Our new roommate was here, he's from…yeah, that's his name. He took care of her."

All three of them waited. The voice on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment. Finn nodded to himself when it began to speak again. He looked over at his new roommate. "Will she talk to her mom?"

Lucas shrugged and held up a finger to indicate that they should wait a second. He rapped on the door of his room with his knuckles and stepped in quickly without waiting for a response, closing the door behind him. "Oh," he said stupidly when he looked at Rory. "Sorry."

She was wearing a pair of his plaid pyjama pants which were incredibly baggy on her, but she had nothing on top but her bra, which was black and lacy, meant to be seductive.

She just stared at him, shocked. She opened her mouth a couple times but didn't actually speak. "It's okay," she finally squeaked out, and he snapped back to life.

"God, sorry," he said again and turned around immediately, but not before seeing the skin on her face, neck, shoulders and chest turn a deep pink. "I didn't mean to –"

She put a stop to his rushed apology. "I would never think that," she said softly. "Not after last night." There was some rustling before she declared, "You can turn around now."

He did, and smiled slightly when he saw that she was still blushing, an emotion he couldn't put his finger on swirling in her eyes. She'd thrown on a black wife-beater, which bagged on her small frame. She looked so tragically beautiful in her grief that he couldn't help the sudden surge of jealously that consumed him when she realized that the take-me-now bra she was wearing was meant for another guy's pleasure. Valiantly focusing on the task at hand, he said, "Finn's on the phone with your mom. You want to talk to her?"

She heat faded from her cheeks as she locked her eyes on the floor. After a long, pregnant pause, she gave a slow shake of her head. She looked back up hesitantly to meet his eyes, as though searching for his approval.

"Okay," he said calmly. "I'll have Finn tell her that."

In lightning-quick steps, she was suddenly right next to him, standing on tiptoe to throw her arms around his neck in a thankful hug. She murmured something he couldn't make out into his shoulder, but he knew, from the way she held him, what she meant. Without thinking, he brushed a soothing kiss to her hairline before leaving the room, closing the door directly behind him once again.

Colin and Finn looked at him expectantly. He shook his head. "Doesn't want to talk to her."

Finn sighed and put the phone back to his ear. "Sorry, Lorelai. Yeah, I think it would be." He paused, taken aback. "Well, yeah. Sure." He held out his cell phone, befuddled. "She wants to talk to you," he told Lucas as though it was the strangest possible idea.

Lucas shrugged, willing to go along with it, and put the phone to his ear, curious to hear the voice of the woman that had gotten pregnant at sixteen with the devastated girl who'd just platonically spent the night in his bed. "Hello?"

"Why, hello to you too, Lucas." She had a pretty voice that had a permanently light-hearted overtone, even in this serious moment. Her words were tinged with irony and purposefully casual, but he picked up on the panic behind them. Her voice was raw, as Rory's had been, from tears and hours of agonizing worry.

"Hi, Ms. Gilmore," he replied.

"It's Lorelai," she said, and he recognized it as an automatic response. "I hear that you've been getting rather cozy with my daughter…?"

She was like a mother bear, he could tell from the inflection in those eleven words. She may have had Rory when she was only a teenager, but she was an adult now with power and deep-rooted protective instincts; her one and only child was obviously top priority. She reminded Lucas of his own mother, who would have sacrificed the world to make sure he was safe. He was cautious with his words as he ventured, "She came over here last night, really upset. I just made sure she was okay. Nothing's going on."

Lorelai exhaled and made a sound that may or may not have been a small sob. "I would really like to believe that you're as good and sweet a kid as you sound."

"I'd like that too."

"Can you…h-have Rory call me, when she's ready?"

"Of course."

"And can you…" she took a deep breath before continuing: "Can you tell her to remember what I said? And that I love her."

"Definitely."

"Listen…she won't talk to anyone else right now, so I really have no choice put to trust you with her. But she's my baby, and I swear to god, Lucas, if you hurt her, I will _hunt_ you down."

Mother bear was right. "Understood."

"Take care of her," Lorelai said mournfully, and then hung up.

"So?" Finn and Colin spoke together.

Lucas handed back the phone. "She told me to have Rory call as soon as she was ready. One of you want to tell me what the hell happened last night?"

"Things got ugly at casa Gilmore," Colin sighed. "Rory and Logan had a fight."

Lucas nodded slowly as things fell into place. "About…?"

Colin sighed again, looking uncomfortable. "She thinks he cheated on her."

Lucas arched a single blonde eyebrow. "Really, she thinks? Because _that_," he said, gesturing to the door of his room and indicating the girl behind it, "was not the face of the girl who _thinks_ her boyfriend cheated on her, that was the face of a girl who had some pretty damn solid evidence."

"You don't understand," Colin said instantly, but he was interrupted by the appearance of a fiery-eyed brunette.

She threw open the door of Lucas' room and glared at them all as she stormed out, headed directed for the coffeemaker. She looked a little comical, marching through the suite angrily in Lucas' clothes, but none of them dared to even smile.

"If I hear the words _you don't understand_ one more time, Colin, I swear to god I will break your neck. Rory and Logan did not get in a fight. Rory and Logan broke up because Rory learned that Logan is a cheating ass whom she never should have _trusted_." She slammed the coffee pot down on the last word so forcefully that Lucas was relieved to note that it didn't break.

"I'm sorry, Rory," he said softly. He walked over and gave her a calming, one-armed hug, gently prying her cup of coffee from her hands. "Maybe we should sit down and try to talk this out. Colin and Finn seem to know something you don't," he added, glancing at the room's other two occupants for confirmation. They both nodded excessively.

"I don't care what they know, and I cannot listen to you defend Logan for one second," she said, blinking back tears as she reached for her coffee.

Keeping his reasonable attitude, Lucas said, "Okay. That's fine. I get it, I understand it, you've obviously been hurt very badly by this and all of that makes sense, and I'm very sorry. But why won't you talk to your mom?"

Her tears spilled over onto her cheeks and his heart ached for her. What kind of guy would screw up something like his relationship with this girl? What could have possibly driven him away from Rory? "So I can listen to her say _I told you so_? No thanks."

"She's just worried about you, love," Finn interjected.

Lucas, who still had his arm around her, gave her another comforting squeeze. "She said to remind you of what she said before…I'm guessing you know what that was?" At her small nod, he continued, "She also wanted to make sure that you know she loves you. She just needs to be sure you're okay."

"I know," Rory whispered, placing her mug down so that she could wipe at the tears on her cheeks. "I know. I messed up and she knows it, but she's still worried. It just…it hurts too much. I can't face her yet. I can't talk to her yet."

* * *

Rory looked up tentatively, letting her eyes dart over to meet Colin's, then Finn's, before settling her gaze back on Lucas' face.

She saw the comprehension in his eyes and wanted to kiss him for it. He understood this better than the other two boys. They grew up in society with countless stepparents. When their parents were disappointed in them, they rolled their eyes, downed some alcohol, and worried only about their trust funds.

Rory had spent part of her life in that world, yes, but in her early childhood, under Lorelai's watchful eye, she grew up with the opposite circumstances. As a little girl, Rory had books and her mother, and that was all she needed. Lorelai was (always had been, always would be) the most permanent, important thing in Rory's life. Her role model, her caretaker, her confidante. Having that person, that one person so instrumental in your life that you were connected in infinite ways, disappointed in you was akin to being punched in the stomach. Repeatedly.

Lucas, she knew from their brief conversation, had that same consistency in his own relationship with his mother. He, of all people, could understand what it was like to look into that person's eyes and see that combination of shame, pity, love, and encouragement. It hurt. She could tell by the way he looked at her that he knew.

Last night, and in that moment, his simple understanding proved to be enough.

* * *

Lucas sighed as the umpteenth episode of _Full House_ began to play on the screen in front of him. He wanted to put a stop to the madness, but every time he looked over at Rory and saw her smile, he thought, _Okay, just one more episode_.

Rory, he quickly learned, coped with things much better when coffee and mass amounts of junk food were involved. She was currently working her way through a large bowl containing a mixture of extra-buttery popcorn, M&Ms, and Sour Patch Kids. He'd reached over for a handful at one point only to encounter a withering stare that clearly stated that she expected him to arrange for his own gigantic mess of candy if he wanted one.

They'd been camped out on the couch since mid-morning, and he could tell that she was putting off taking her leave. She looked much happier, even cozy in his clothes, which were oversized on her. Colin and Finn left shortly after their arrival, telling Lucas that they were off to inform everyone that Rory was not lying dead in a ditch, but safely in a dorm room at one of the world's most prestigious and expensive universities.

She noticed his staring and simply smiled back. "What're you looking at me for?" she asked softly. "John Stamos is right there is all his glory," she added as she gestured to the TV.

His eyebrows shot up as he asked, in his most neutral tone, "So, are we going to talk about this, or what?"

Her eyes immediately shot back down into her bowl of candy. He reached out and pulled it from her, leaving her with nothing to cling to. He needed her to open up and explain herself a little.

"I really wanted to trust him," she told her hands.

"I know you did."

Her lips twisted into a bitter, ironic smile. "That was stupid of me, huh?"

"You gave him a fair chance, Rory, it was good of you, noble of you."

"No…not that. I was stupid to think that I'd be enough."

He felt his face crease in confusion as he watched her, his concern seeping into his soothing voice: "What do you mean?"

She shrugged pitifully. "He changed everything for me. His whole lifestyle. It was stupid of me to think that I would be enough to keep him there."

"No, it wasn't," he assured her automatically, and then paused for a moment before saying anything else. He didn't really know what his relationship with Rory was. On paper, they had agreed to be friends, but in reality, they were in an awkward but pleasant stage in which they were acquaintances yet friends, friends and yet, more. He needed to tell her, to clear his conscience, so that no matter what happened, he would be completely guilt-free. "For what it's worth to you now, Rory Gilmore, Logan loves you. I can tell."

"Yeah, well, it's worth the twenty girls he slept with when we were supposedly 'broken up'," she said mournfully, throwing in sarcastic air quotes around her last words.

He placed his hands over her fidgety ones. "One day you're going to tell me that whole story."

"But not today?" she asked, her relief palpable.

"Not today," he said, sifting through the emotional turmoil in her eyes as he tried to get a feel for what was going on in that head of hers. "Maybe tomorrow."

She took a quick breath in, breathing the way people breathed when they were trying not to have a total hysterical breakdown. "He betrayed me so badly, but I still love him so much. It'll go away, though, won't it? I'll stop loving him one day…right?"

The way she looked at him conveyed how much she needed a positive response. He reached out to push her tangled hair out her heartbreaking baby blues. "Of course you will," he said, knowing fully from his personal experience that it was the truest lie he'd ever told.

**A/N: **Remember how I told you that in the end, you will be happy? Okay, not _everyone _will, but I suspect the majority of you will be pleased. I definitely know who you're all shipping for. Hold on to that, and keep reviewing to let me know what you're thinking.


	8. Comfort

**A/N: **Thank you, all of you, for reading my last author's note and reviewing. Not _everyone_ who has this favourited or on alert did review, but you can't have everything, and I really appreciate those of you who did review, and I'd love it if you'd do it again! Doesn't take _that_ long, right? :) I also am really grateful to see you continuing to read - you'll really never know how this ends until we get there. I've outlined the whole story, and there are twists and turns that you won't see coming - or at least, I hope you won't.

I know I've been giving you a lot of Rory stuff right now, and not a lot of Lucas, but that is for a reason. It's critical to the plot that you know a lot about Rory, and Lucas' relationship with her, before his past and the reason for his departure from Tree Hill are revealed. I like to keep you guys in a bit of suspense. You should still be wondering who the girl in Lucas' past is (Brooke? Peyton? Someone else?). And, of course, who the hell Rory is going to end up with in the end. Keep me updated with your questions and opinions. Read on!

He let Rory stay over that night as well, because she was so reluctant to leave the unlikely sanctuary she'd found.

It'd taken a sob-fest from Rory and some light but definitive threats from Lucas in order to get Finn and Colin to agree not to reveal Rory's whereabouts to Logan. Finn spent nearly an hour on the phone with his best friend, patiently telling him over and over that Rory was fine but she didn't want to see him. Finally, he hung up, pitching his phone to the wall. It shattered into more pieces than Rory's had. When he spoke, it was to Rory, through his teeth: "He said that he loves you more than anything, he's infinitely sorry, and he will do whatever it takes to get you back.

Rory physically shrank back, away from his words, finding her solace in Lucas' arms.

Colin and Finn wouldn't leave them alone after their return to the suite. It irked Lucas, but it didn't seem to faze Rory. She just shrugged and told them she was happy to have their company; they could all wallow together.

And wallow they did. She sent all three of them out to various locations (movie store, grocery store, coffee kiosk) and then all four of them settled in the living room for some serious sulking. The boys admirably sat through hours of girly movies – Colin even shed a few tears at one point. He and Finn lazed on the floor, while Lucas sat on the couch. Rory was sprawled out next to him, her feet pressed against his thigh.

It was nearly midnight when Finn and Colin finally passed out. Rory sat up, letting the blanket she'd been wrapped in fall from her shoulders. "They did pretty good," she commented with a small smile. "You, too."

He rested his hand on her delicate ankle. "Chick flicks are a lot easier to endure than break-ups," he reminded her as nicely as possible. "How're you holding up?"

Her hands clutched at the blanket. "It hurts. A lot. But just being here…with you guys…it makes me feel like everything's going to be okay." She bit back a smile, suddenly bashful. "I guess that's my way of saying thank you. We barely know each other, and I feel like this has asked a lot of you."

Lucas shrugged. "I was happy to give what you asked for. I feel like I've known you longer."

She appeared to come to sort of realization, he could see it in her eyes and the way the corners of her lips twitched upward. She looked back at the screen, where _An Affair to Remember_ played. "Ditto," she whispered.

* * *

Rory smiled through her tears as the credits rolled. "Such a good movie," she sighed quietly.

Lucas' hand was resting on her leg; it had been throughout the majority of the film. Sometimes his fingers tapped a light pattern against her anklebone, sometimes his hand ran up and down her calf soothingly. She'd stolen a few glances in his direction throughout the movie, and she knew that he was doing it without even realizing it.

She probably should have said something, or cleared her throat, maybe moved her away, but that would have made it awkward. That was the thing: it wasn't weird.

She felt at ease with Lucas, whose eyes made her feel secure and beautiful and deeply…understood every time she looked at him.

Her feelings for him had impossible depth for the short time they'd been acquainted, but they were shallow, too. The boy gave her butterflies and stalled her brain, making her flustered for a moment before her normally impressive vocabulary came back to her. She wanted to chalk it up to flashbacks she was having to the teenage Adonis who'd lusted after her in high school, but she was aware that it was more than that.

She was in love with Logan, though. Or she had been until she'd found out the sordid details that informed her that Logan Huntzberger's love life had consisted of many more girls than the one he claimed to love.

Her mother was right. Rory was terrified. Logan had always been a philanderer, and he'd proved that he always would be. She hated him for it. She also felt like the world's biggest hypocritical bitch for sitting there falling for someone else mere hours after screaming at her (ex)boyfriend for straying.

And yet. Maybe. Maybe she was.

Rory needed to consult her mother, but at the same time, she didn't. Years of Lorelai's advice had prepared her for this moment. She knew what her mom would say. _You can't help who you love. You're smart, honey, and I know that you tend to rely on your head, but in the end, your heart decides. Believe me, baby, you'll regret it if you don't listen._

Her heart was unreliable, cryptic and torn. It reminded her of her love for Logan, the man she kept in mind when contemplating her future. It also told her to get over herself and just jump the gorgeous guy who'd been unconsciously stroking her leg for the past have hour already.

"You tired?" Lucas asked her, jarring her from her thoughts. Her voice, laced with love in its purest, friendship form, made her want to cry.

"Yeah, I am." She gestured to her pillow and blanket. "I'm fine sleeping here."

His eyebrows shot up. "You're taking my bed."

"_You're_ taking _your_ bed."

"No."

She couldn't lie there all night in the sheets that held his wonderful smile. Her mind didn't need any more torment. "Lucas. No."

He gave her a small, sudden smile that lit up his face. "You know, Rory, I don't call you by your full name. You can do the same for me; call me Luke. Most people tend to."

Dropping the bed issue for the moment, she shook her head adamantly. "Mm. No, I can't."

His brow furrowed and she nearly melted at how adorably puzzled he looked. "Why not?"

"My mother's fiancé's name in Luke. It would just be weird."

"Why?" he asked, all innocence.

She glared at him. She wanted to say, _Because, no matter what you may say or think, there is something intimate about our relationship, and associating that connotation with my stepfather-to-be would be, for lack of a better word, gross, not to mention inappropriate._ Instead, she said, "Nice try, changing the subject. I'm not taking your bed."

He leaned back, turning his portion of the couch into a La-Z-Boy chair and laid back, getting comfortable. "I'm not moving."

Two could play that game. "Neither am I."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Rory settled back into the super-soft pillow. "Hey, Lucas?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"I told Logan to leave the apartment today for a couple hours so I could get my stuff, but I couldn't go, it was too soon. I need to go tomorrow, though, before I get scared. I need clothes." She sensed him listening, patiently waiting. She asked before she could think too hard about it. "Will you come with me?"

There was a pause in which her mind went wild, accusing her of asking _way_ too much of this nice guy who'd walked into her life at the most perfect and yet most horrible moment.

"Sure," he finally replied with certainty.

"Thanks," she sighed. She stared into the dark, ignoring her desire to be closer to him and forcing herself to think up other topics. A thought occurred to her. "Lucas?"

His second "Yeah?" was more lethargic.

"Are you ever going to tell me about her? The girl that broke your heart?"

There was another long, heavy moment of silence before his firm, "No." He let in sink in before softening the blow of his complete refusal with a kind, almost teasing, "But don't worry about me, Rory. My heart's repairable."

His words made her own heart leap as she pulled the blanket tightly around her, dreading the events of the following day.

There was nothing like confronting the boy who held your heart with the boy to whom you're considering transferring its ownership to by your side.

* * *

"Rory! Finn! Get your asses up."

Lucas poured a cup of coffee in the kitchen as Colin struggled to wake their friends.

"Up. Now."

"I _hate _you," was Finn's sleepy retort.

Lucas walked over and held the mug of black coffee close to Rory's nose. With his free hand he brushed her sleep-mussed hair out of her face. "Up and at 'em, sleeping beauty," he cajoled.

She rolled away from him, batting away his hand with a frown tugging at her lips. "Two more minutes, Logan," she murmured.

Lucas sighed, angry with himself for wanting to kiss a girl who was dreaming about her ex.

Colin, who hadn't heard her muted mumblings, said, "Rory Leigh Gilmore, get off my couch right now."

Her eyes fluttered open and she pouted at them both. "Coffee."

Colin's resolve when it came to her puppy face was much greater than Lucas'. "Only once you're standing," he replied firmly.

"_Please_, Colin?"

"Don't make me hurt you, Reporter Girl."

"Like you would," she scoffed as she sat up.

"She could take you anyway, mate," Finn contributed. "It's Sunday. Why are we all so determined to be awake?"

"Because it's noon," Colin said flatly.

"What the hell is so special about noon?"

Rory planted her feet on the floor and stood, reaching out with wordless expectation. Lucas handed over the mug.

"It's halfway through the day. Most people get up by that point."

"I'm not _most people_. I'm _Finn_."

Lucas nudged Rory's shoulder with his own. "So are we going to do this or what?"

She nearly choked as she tried to swallow. "_Now_?"

He nodded. "Giving yourself time to mentally prepare seems like a good idea, but it isn't going to help. I think you know that."

Rory sighed and sat back down heavily. "Yeah, I know," she muttered.

"So finish that coffee and then we'll move it, okay?" he asked encouragingly.

"'Kay," she said softly.

Finn was wide awake, but still trying to argue his way to another four hours of sleep. Lucas went back into his room for a moment of peace. He stuck a bookmark in the J.D. Salinger novel that was lying face-down on his bed, and grabbed his keys and his cell. With a rueful glance at his laptop, he idly wondered what the day would bring. He wasn't just waiting for an event to occur, he was waiting for something…inspired.

The vibration of his cell phone as it rang startled him. He groaned as he pulled it out of his pocket and took a look at the caller ID. He was seriously beginning to think that Rory'd had the right idea when she chucked her phone at the wall. He didn't take the call.

"Hey." Rory stood in the doorway of the room, tapping her foot, which was encased in one of his flip-flops – about four sizes too big for her foot. "You ready to go?"

"Sure. You need anything?"

"More coffee would be nice."

"No," he laughed at her misunderstanding. "I mean boxes or bags or anything."

"Oh! I…yeah. I guess I didn't really think about moving in terms of…moving." She swallowed hard.

"I still have some boxes leftover from my trek out here. Are you going to get upset if you have to pack your clothes in garbage bags?"

She smiled distractedly as she shook her head. "No, that's fine. We'll need a car, though. I didn't even think of that. I didn't think of anything."

"Colin said we could take his pimped out ride," Lucas said soothingly, eliciting the quick grin he'd hoped for. 'We're all set."

"Thank you so much for thinking of everything," she said in a rush. "And for coming with me."

He acknowledged her thanks with an understanding nod as he guided her out of the suite, pausing to wave to Colin. "You didn't think I was going to let you take on New Haven alone and dressed like that, did you?"

She blushed when she remembered that she was completely decked out in his clothing. "Of course not."

He drove to Logan's apartment by memory, keeping a watchful eye on the girl in the passenger seat. She was fidgety. She checked out Colin's CD collection, moved her seat forward and backward, turned the air conditioning on and off. The radio provided her with much-needed distraction, and she went through station after station searching for a song she liked. She perked up instantly when she heard Jimmy Eat World's _The Middle_ and turned the radio up.

Lucas liked the song. But, as with most songs that he liked, he had a love-hate relationship with it. Memories, good and bad, intermingled, tangling themselves up in the cheerful tune. The "everything'll be alright" message of that particular song tended to depress him a little considering the attached memories. However, he said nothing, knowing that the encouraging lyrics and upbeat tempo were exactly what Rory needed.

She was still humming when they got out of the car, but her happiness faded when the elevator doors opened on the correct floor. Lucas waited for her to take a deep breath before she gathered the courage to let herself in.

Logan jumped up when they entered. "Ace," he said, relieved. He really did look miserable.

"Don't call me that," she snapped back, shaking open a garbage bag aggressively as she walked directly to her dresser.

Logan winced and then frowned when he spotted Lucas, who stood near the door, waiting for further instructions from Rory. "What're you doing here?"

Rory threw a handful of socks into the bag and answered for him. "Lucas just moved. I thought I could use his expertise."

"Ace – Rory, please don't do this," Logan begged. "We really need to talk. Can we just talk?" He hesitated. "Rory, are you…wearing his clothes?"

"Yep," Rory said, tearing through her dresser as though it had personally insulted her. "We had sex," she added flippantly.

It was hypocritical, but Logan looked utterly devastated at those words. Lucas pitied him the slightest bit. "You're joking," Logan said desperately.

Rory whirled around, and a sock with penguins printed on it went flying. "Of course I am! I would never do that! I'm not _you_!"

"Rory, please." Logan placed his hand on her shoulder. She immediately stiffened and pulled away.

"Do. Not. Touch. Me," she ground out, her eyes bright with tears. "If you ever loved me, or even cared about me for one second, you'll stop. You'll –"

She was cut off by the ring of Lucas' cell. _Great timing, Nathan_, he thought, knowing that it could only be his brother again.

Both Rory and Logan looked at him expectantly, pausing in their argument for a moment. "You can get it," Rory said quietly with the smallest and saddest of smiles. She looked touched that he would consider ignoring a call on her behalf.

He smiled back. "No, it's alright."

"No, _really_. You can get it."

"I know. I just don't want to."

"Well…okay." She pointed to two huge bookshelves. "The bottom shelf on that one and all of the other…those are my books. Will you put them in those boxes?"

Lucas nodded. "I'm on it."

He observed out of the corner of his eye as she pointed a threatening finger in her ex-boyfriend's face. "If you _ever_ meant anything you said to me, you'll let me do this in peace."

Logan looked broken as he backed off. "I'm sorry, Ace," he said softly as he walked backward, toward the door. "I love you, and I am so, so sorry. But I won't let you go this easily." He stepped out of his own apartment with mournful eyes.

Rory sank to the floor by the bed, her head in her hands. Lucas abandoned the books and went to sit next to her. He listened to her sniffle for a moment before he requested: "Talk to me."

"I-it…it would be so much easier if he hadn't said that," she whispered as she wiped her eyes.

"I know," he said sympathetically, rubbing her back.

"I am done loving him," she said fiercely. Blue met blue when she locked eyes with him. "It's over."

He shook off the hopeful feeling that she'd enforced that with him for a reason. "Okay," was all he said.

"So…can you handle the books?"

"Consider them handled."

"Okay." She bit down on her lower lip for a moment. "Let's do this and get out of here."

* * *

After he put the last box in the back of Colin's car, Lucas closed the trunk and turned to her. With a wry, sympathetic smile, he offered a hug.

Rory sank into his strong arms gratefully as she exhaled tiredly.

"What can I do for you?" Lucas asked, his lips brushing her hair.

She smiled wearily. "You mean besides being amazing and letting me crash with you for a few days?"

"You already thanked me twelve times," he laughed. "And yes, besides that."

Rory rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes for a second. "Well, since you asked…ice cream. Lots of ice cream."

"Easy enough. You know, for all the drama in your life, you're surprisingly uncomplicated."

She scoffed. "I'm not the surprising one. You've been through hell so many times. You should be really proud of coming out of all of that as sweet as your are."

"I'm _sweet_?"

She giggled as she pulled back. "That's a good thing!" she insisted.

"Not very macho."

"You're pretty, too," she cooed playfully.

He winced. "_Pretty_?"

She batted at his chest. "You're gorgeous, you jerk, and you know it."

"_Gorgeous_?"

Rolling her eyes, she dropped her voice to her most sultry tone and said, "You're _hot_, Lucas Scott."

She gauged his reaction carefully and was happy to see his grin. "You're kinda hot, too."

"Yeah?" She meant to be teasing, but the single syllable was earnest.

His eyes were honest. "Logan's loss. A big one."

Rory just smiled, deciding to leave it at that. "Ice cream?" she asked with her signature pout.

Lucas gallantly opened her door for her. "Let's go."

She ordered two scoops of chocolate chip cookie dough with a scoop of cappuccino in between, and jokingly mocked Lucas' request for pitiful single scoop of death by chocolate. Secretly, though, she approved. She thought that perhaps, their orders reflected their personalities. Rory asked for fairly traditional flavours, reliable goodness in a quirky combination with a little caffeine thrown in. His treat was dependable, nice and sweet, and a little daring.

Her musings her interrupted by the student in the ridiculous hat who handed over her cone. "Break up?" he asked, eyeing her clothing and shadowy eyes and grouping them together with her huge ice cream order to come to his conclusion.

He looked sincere, so she didn't get petty, simply asked, "That obvious, huh?" She felt Lucas' hand automatically come to rest at the small of her back in a silent show of support. The gesture made her smile.

She suggested that they walk while theyate, pretending to be indifferent to the impressed arch of Lucas' brow when she declared when intention to walk around in her oversized outfit.

"You look anorexic," he commented. She glanced pointedly at her towering ice cream cone and he amended, "Bulimic, then."

"Thanks. You sure know how to pay a girl a compliment."

"Sorry, Rory."

She stuck her cold tongue out at his childishly. "You rhymed. Do you write poetry, too?"

"No, just prose. What about you, editor-in-chief? Do you write creatively, too?"

Rory shook her head wistfully. "Rarely. I love writing, and I always feel confident with the finished product when it's for the paper. Creative writing is harder for me to share. Is it hard for you?"

He nodded seriously. "Very. It's a lot more emotional. It's a lot more difficult to show a piece of yourself to the world. Not that what you do isn't impressive – it is. But when you write a novel it's a whole different kind of attachment."

"I understand."

He looked back at her, smiling in a way that she would treasure forever, its indescribably qualities permanently engraved in her memory. "I know you do."

* * *

Back at the suite, Rory dug out some of her own clothes and excused herself to take a shower. To distract himself from the thought of her in his shower, Lucas set out to order some takeout for dinner. He could have much rather cooked, but he didn't exactly have that option. Instead, he perused a Chinese menu he found lying in the kitchen. Colin and Finn had circled their favourites, and he found a couple of other dishes that looked good. He ordered enough for four, knowing that Finn would whine if he came home to find that they hadn't saved him anything.

As though they'd read his mind, the boys burst though the door two minutes later. Lucas had seen that coming. What he hadn't seen coming were the two leggy brunettes they had in tow. They were all a little tipsy, even though it was barely five o'clock.

"Lucas!" Finn cried when they walked in, giving him an unexpected, enthusiastic hug. "Did I ever tell you about the time I went to Martinique?"

Lucas extracted himself from Finn's grasp. "No, you didn't."

"One day…I will. Colin! Get us some vodka!"

Lucas grinned, thoroughly amused. "More of that already, huh?"

One of the girls dragged her hand down his arm. "You could join us, baby," she purred.

"Thanks for the offer," he declined politely.

"He's got a girl already," the other brown-haired, cat-eyed babe informed her friend with a knowing smirk. She inclined her head toward the sound of running water. "Someone's in the shower."

"Who, mate?" Finn demanded boisterously.

"Rory," Colin said knowingly, an accusation in his eyes.

Finn's eyes grew impossibly wide. "You…and Rory…you…and Rory…?"

"No! She just needs a place to stay," Lucas said reasonably.

Finn visibly relaxed, but Colin shook his head. "Yeah, for now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"For now, you're just a friend giving her a place to live. Look, Rory's a good person. We all know how much she loved Logan. They're both messed up right now, and it's the worst possible time for you two to have a thing going."

"We do not have a _thing_ going," Lucas objected.

Colin's steely gaze told him, in no uncertain terms, to drop the subject. "For now," he repeated.

* * *

When she was freshly showered and back in her own duds – a black skirt and a short-sleeved deep green blouse that tied to accentuate one's waist – Rory realized that she missed Lucas' clothes. The smell and feel were two comforts she was not yet ready to go without.

She inspected his closet as she twisted her wet hair back into a bun, securing it with a few well-placed bobby pins. The most comfortable, worn-in piece of clothing was a sweater with faded writing on the back. _Keith Scott Body Shop_. Rory was tempted to pull it on, but intuitively knew better than to do so. Lucas clearly loved that sweater. Keith Scott was probably a relative. Not his father, but maybe his deceased uncle. She couldn't just throw on a sentimentally valuable sweater. Instead, she chose a hoodie with _University of North Carolina_ emblazoned on it. It was grey, much too big, and perfectly comfortable.

She heard Finn's voice outside the door and smiled. She reached for the doorknob, prepared to go out and join in the conversation, when Lucas burst through the door, shutting it securely behind him.

She let out a laugh in confusion and amusement. "Hey, you okay?"

"Uh, yeah, fine. Finn and Colin just have two very…adventurous girls out there. We need to stay in hiding," he told her seriously.

Rory giggled at his semi-traumatized expression. "But I'm hungry."

"I ordered Chinese already. Maybe we can get the delivery guy to come to the window," he thought aloud.

She raised her eyebrows. "_I _am not scared to go out there. I'll open the door."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

He seemed to really look at her for the first time, and he smirked. "Nice sweater."

"Oh! Yeah, I…sorry, I should've asked."

Lucas waved her words away. "It's fine, Rory. Looks good."

An automatic blush warmed her cheeks. "So," she said in a pointed change of subject, "you'll let me answer the door to get the food?"

He pretended to consider it. "Yeah, I guess. But if you're not back here in two minutes I'm going to have to come out there and rescue you."

She shook her head, feeling an overwhelming sense of affection. "You don't have to protect me from everything."

He seemed to study her for a moment before he quietly asked, "What if I want to?"

**A/N:** Review please. It keeps me so motivated. And come on. Really. You know you want to.


	9. Fairytale

**A/N: **I spoil you, I really do. It's just that I'm about five chapters ahead of myself at all times, and I get reviews that make me go "Aw" and I just want to give you more. Speaking of reviews, thank you so much for those. Keep 'em coming.

As much as it delights me that some of you are so completely invested in this story that it's totally tormenting you not to know who Rory's going to end up with, it also makes me feel bad because I don't want to completely disappoint you. **belle1220**, you put it very well: you've let me know the couples you'd like to see in the end and told me that anything in between was fair game. I couldn't agree more. I hear you, everyone. I have the entire story mapped out with brief summaries of each chapter already, but I do take every single thing you say into consideration, I promise you.

Hang in there: have faith in your ships, believe in whatever endgame you desire...but let me have my fun in the meantime. Oh, and I'm currently writing a very important and essential paper on Albert Camus, so forgive the constant referencing. He's just in my head right now. Also, while I'm getting off on tangents, isn't that new "Reader Traffic" thing fun? is pretty awesome at inflating my ego. Joking. Anyway, I'm sorry, back to the story. Reviews make me smile and motivate me to write. Read on!

"Okay, let me get this straight," Rory said, a small giggle escaping her lips. "You're _obsessed_ with Albert Camus?"

"Only a little," Lucas replied, mock-defensively, admiring the way her hair fell into her face.

"You wake up in the morning and the first thing you think is hey, why don't I read a depressing novella by a semi-racist but brilliant author?"

"Yes?" he shrugged sheepishly.

They'd both slept in his bed the previous night. Rory'd snuck out to retrieve their food, and they'd camped out in the confines of his relatively small dorm room for the rest of the night, getting to know each other even better. He learned about her best friends, Lane in her hometown and Paris at Yale, and her close relationship with Richard, her grandfather.

In return he'd filled her in on the details of his friendship with Haley and his relationship with his uncle Keith. Rory tread around the subject with remarkable sensitivity, letting him set the boundaries for what he did and didn't want to reveal. In return, he didn't pester her about talking to her mother. He knew that she knew that she needed to, but she wasn't ready yet, and he owed her his silent acceptance of that.

He'd fully intended to go sleep on the couch, even as they laid together, facing each other in his bed. They each had their own pillow, their legs were tangled casually, and Lucas had firmly made the decision to go sleep on the couch when she finally got tired enough to snooze. She was overtired, he could tell, hyped up from her emotional overload.

They made faces at each other when they heard the girlish giggles coming from outside the door. At one point, Finn said something so lewd that it made Rory's jaw drop and Lucas wince, knowing that he'd never forget it. Most of the time, however, the dirty talk stayed hushed enough so that they didn't hear it, and Lucas steered the conversation into easy, relaxing directions. They talked about books and movie and music, and he watched her get all professionally cute as she gave him the run-down on what professors she knew he'd like, and which he really didn't ever want to come into contact with.

She was giving him an astounding speech on her hatred of Hemingway when she finally started to drift off. Her eyes began to close just as she began her spiel on how incredibly boring _For Whom the Bell Tolls_ was, and her words grew farther and farther apart as she snuggled down into his pillow and blankets. He watched her fondly as she drifted off to dreamland, a soft, contented sigh escaping her perfect lips.

Unable to resist, he pressed his lips to her temple and pulled the sheet over her body before he reluctantly stood up from the bed, grabbing a book and preparing to go out and sleep on the couch. He wasn't sure if he wanted to sleep on the couch after hearing what he'd heard previously, but he guessed he'd find out. Just when he reached for the doorknob, her lazy "Hey." stopped him.

"Yeah?" he asked softly. Her eyes were still closed, but she was smiling languorously.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To sleep on the couch."

She shook her head against the pillow, messing up her hair, and patted the other side of the bed. "I'm already putting you out. I'm not going to make you go out there." She opened her eyes the slightest amount so that she was watching him through her long, dark eyelashes. "Come back to bed."

Hesitantly, he walked back toward her and laid back down next to her, careful to keep some space between their bodies. She didn't say anything more.

When they woke up the next morning, their sleep disrupted by a gang of noisy students yelling something about World War I outside the window, their limbs were tangled together. Somehow, it wasn't awkward, only comfortable. They eased themselves away from each other with small smiles. Rory met his eyes lazily and then let her eyelids fall again. Neither of them spoke, and soon enough, she drifted back to sleep.

Lucas couldn't go back to sleep, not with a beautiful girl in his bed. The sun hit her hair at the perfect angle, causing her brown locks to shine. He was comfortable, and he wasn't exactly rushing to get out there and encounter whatever had transpired after Colin and Finn's night of debauchery. He didn't close his eyes again, but he did stay put, grabbing one of the books he was currently reading and diving in.

Rory awoke from her morning nap, that extra bit of needed sleep, about forty-five minutes later to see him ploughing through the final pages of _L'Étranger_. She peered at the cover of his book critically through her bleary eyes. "_The Outsider_? Really? Depression this early in the morning?"

Lucas grinned at her and shrugged. She sat up a little, straining her neck and shoulders as she tried to read the print to gauge at what point in the story it was. To make it easier for her, he lifted his arm, allowing her to tuck her head into the crook of his neck and have an unobstructed few of the text. His arm settled gently around her, and he unconsciously stroked the skin of her upper arm.

She wrinkled her nose adorably. "Camus at this hour. I cannot believe you."

That was what led to their discussion on the pros and cons of Albert Camus' works of fiction in the early hours of the morning. "How the hell does one get obsessed with Camus?" Rory asked incredulously. "There are so many…_happier_ authors to get obsessed with."

"All happy authors are alike," he told her with a faux-innocent expression, playing on the famous Tolstoy quote. "But all unhappy authors are unhappy in their own way."

"Ha ha," she replied wryly, unimpressed. "Hey, why don't you read Vonnegut in the morning?"

Lucas smiled at her eager expression and shook his head. "You leave my books alone, Rory Gilmore."

Her feet rubbed against his as she pulled back to kick him playfully. "Try and make me."

There was sudden, aggressive knocking on the door that startled them both. "I'm coming in!" Finn announced, and flung the door open without waiting for a reply. Finn could drink more shots of tequila in one sitting than anyone Lucas had ever met, but he'd never quite mastered the whole decorum thing.

For the first time all night and all morning, things grew very awkward, very quickly. It was not surprising, considering the blatant way Finn was gawking at them for a second time. Lucas felt Rory slip out from under his arm and away from his body carefully, as if she was afraid to make any sudden movements.

Finn looked contemplative. He looked hungover, first and foremost, but there were several emotions playing on his face underneath the cover of thoughtfulness. He looked surprised, a little bit angry, and almost resignedly sad. Finally, in a much quieter voice than the one he normally used, he asked, "Is there something I should know?"

Lucas let Rory answer. She'd known Finn longer, through all the naked phases that Lucas was glad he had yet to encounter. She knew him through the boy she'd just broken up with. It was her place to answer the question, and she did so delicately, her voice soft and her words thought-out: "No, Finn. You have to know me better than that."

The Australian raised a single eyebrow. "I do, Gilmore. You know I consider you a sister. I believe you love…loved…Logan. But I've had a lot of flings in my life, and if there is anything I've learned to recognize, it's undeniable, first-glance attraction. If you take that and add a one-night stand, it'll go away. But if you bond…" he gestured vaguely to the couple lying in front of him. He let his words sink in, then cleared his throat and allowed his voice to hit its natural volume. "We're all hungover as hell. You guys want to go get breakfast?"

* * *

"I want _blackberries_ on my pancakes," Finn insisted.

"We only have blueberries," the waitress told him tiredly for the infinite time.

Rory shot her a sympathetic smile. "Just give him blueberries," she mouthed, dropping one eyelid in a wink and nodding her head reassuringly. Once his food was in front of him, Finn wouldn't remember his whiny request.

Colin looked haggard that morning. He was hunched over his coffee cup and spoke rarely. His eyes kept darting back and forth between Rory and Lucas, and it was making her remarkably self-conscious, especially considering Finn's earlier words. Could a girl not have a friend anymore? Lucas' arm was resting on the both behind her, completely casually, but she was hyper-aware of it and she hated that. Absolutely hated it.

"Rough night, Colin?" she asked, keeping her tone even. She smiled slightly to make sure everyone knew she intended the dirty connotation.

"Fairly," he said gruffly, keeping his voice just as even.

She refused to let it go. "You're quiet."

He shrugged. "Hungover."

The waitress returned with their food ("Blueberries!" Finn cried delightedly as though they were what he'd asked for) and they all perked up a bit, eager to eat. Rory and Lucas had ordered the same thing, which they laughed at amicably, but Rory caught Colin's scoff. Frowning, she attacked her eggs with a vengeance.

The girls Colin and Finn had been escorting since the previous night stared blankly at Rory. They were, it turned out, twins, Mindy and Trina, and were now dressed in skinny jeans and what appeared to be the same tank in two different colours. "How do you _eat_ like that?" Trina asked in utter amazement. Or maybe it was Mindy.

Rory smiled despite herself and her inner frustration. "Years of training."

"Do you work out a lot?" the other twin asked in a familiar way. Girls had to find a reason for Rory's ability to eat so much and somehow stay so thin.

With a gentle smile at the overly made-up brunette sitting across from her, Rory said, "No. Never. I just…have really good metabolism."

Lucas turned to her with an impressed look in his eyes. "That's crazy."

She laughed. "That's Lorelai Gilmore and her genes." Mentioning her mother made her remember how worried Lorelai must be about her, and she was filled with regret. Lucas must have seen the flicker of remorse, because his hand dropped from the upper part of the booth to rest around her body in a reassuringly warm way. She had to give him credit for being able to read her so well. She rewarded his kindness with a half-smile and a sly glance out of the corner of her eye. When she looked back at the rest of the table, Mindy and Trina were engaged in a conversation about counting carbs versus counting calories, and Finn kept putting in with obviously false statistics that nonetheless seemed to impress the girls. Rory smiled at the sight, but her lips dropped into a frown as she felt the heat of Colin's glare.

She turned to him and glared right back. She was not doing this. "I'm not doing this, Colin," she said aloud through gritted teeth. Finn and the girls looked disgruntled and alarmed, but Lucas seemed to sense where she was coming from.

"Doing what, Reporter Girl?"

"Will you just call me by my name, already?" Rory shot back. She couldn't fight with people when they used nicknames. It only further infuriated her. When she'd argued with Tristan, way back in the day, he must have known that to be true, but she had no doubt that her anger probably worked as a turn-on. When she and Lorelai had a spat, unless there was a serious emotional aspect, her mother had long ago learned to call her daughter by name throughout the fight and avoid "honey" and "sweets". Logan had eventually come to realize that if she was upset with him, he needed to break away from the sweet nickname he'd given her at the start of their relationship; it was only when their accusations toned down that he'd venture an "Ace" again.

"Sorry, Rory," Colin replied, playing up the rhyme mockingly. Just yesterday Lucas had said those same words to her with a teasing gleam in his baby blues and she'd been appreciated the nicety of it – Lorelai always apologized to her in that same lilting, doting meter.

She could feel the intensity of her rage burning behind her eyes. "We are _not_ going to do this, Colin, we're just _not_. Don't you _dare_. I cannot believe that you're just sitting there being an ass and acting like _I'm _being disloyal to Logan. Can you even comprehend how stupid that is?"

His jaw was set. "You just seemed to have rebounded kinda quickly, Gilmore."

Rory wanted to slap him. "He cheated on me, you jerk! He cheated on me and you're acting like I've betrayed his precious trust! Trust means nothing between Logan and me, not anymore! He told me he _loved_ me," she said fiercely, blinking back the tears pushing at her eyelids when she remembered that fact. "More than anything, forever, always…all that crap, all of it, that's what he told me, and he screwed a bunch of sluts behind my back!"

The twins looked impeccably uncomfortable as they took nervous bites of toast, their eyes roaming between Colin and Rory as though they were watching a tennis match. Finn looked troubled and particularly sad. Rory didn't look at Lucas. She couldn't handle the _it's okay_ she knew she would see in his eyes. Not when she was already about to cry.

Colin tilted his head to the side, anger stemmed from betrayal flickering in his eyes. "Huh."

"What?" Rory demanded in her deadliest voice.

"Not once, in that nice little speech of yours, did I here you deny that there's anything between you and New Boy over here."

Rory stared at him, speechless. Had he not heard a word she'd just said? "Colin, you jackass. Lucas and I have known each other for _days_ but he's stepped up to the plate and helped me out and been wonderful. If you're too stupid to realize it: we're not sleeping together, okay? Pretty sure you knew that already," she added bitterly. "I can't believe you. You've known me for over a year, and I know Logan's your friend, but he's the bad guy here, alright? I loved him. With everything in me." She hated the way her throat tightened as she said those words. Lucas put a little more strength into the hold of his arm around her, giving her all she needed to go on. "I thought about marrying him, I did. I considered forever with him, and I hate myself for it, but there's no going back. Logan's the world's biggest jerk, and you're taking his side." She shook her head. "I can't believe I'm even hearing what you're saying. Are you awa – "

Lucas' cell phone rang all of sudden. The twins looked relieved, Finn looked nearly ecstatic, and Colin frowned in the direction of the "New Boy". Rory was too invested in her tirade, however, and would yell at anyone who would listen. She whirled on Lucas, and lividly demanded, "Are you being stalked or something?"

Lucas looked a little stunned when her outburst was suddenly directed at him, and she couldn't blame him. He lifted his hands, pulling his arm away from her, and held them up to show that he was unarmed. "Sorry."

"Oh my God, no, I'm sorry," Rory rushed to apologize, coming down from her passionately angry high. "Wow. Okay. God, I'm sorry." She realized then that her bitter rant had captured the attention of two waitresses and several of the restaurant's other customers, including a horrified-looking elderly couple and a family of six. The three primary-school-aged children were staring with their jaws dropped, and the baby began to wail. Rory winced and tried to collect herself.

After taking about thirty seconds to get her breathing back to normal, she tried to speak in a steady voice. "I'm sorry," she said earnestly to the mother of the family, who'd scooped up her wailing infant. "I'm sorry," she repeated to the waitresses, who looked a little frightened of her. Beyond it, though, she could sense their pity, which didn't exactly make her feel better about herself. She put her elbows down on the table so hard that the cutlery rattled, and buried her face in her hands momentarily. "God, I'm sorry. I need to get out of here." When she looked up, she looked at Lucas and Lucas alone. "Will you come with me?" It was an open request, the kind that would give him the allowance and opportunity to say no.

His nod, however, was immediate, and he dropped a few bills on the table before ushering her out of the restaurant and away from the nosy gazes of the customers.

* * *

Outside, in the parking lot, Lucas watched as Rory paced, keeping his expression neutral. Haley and Nathan were going to murder him for ignoring all their calls. He mentally made a note to watch out for hit men.

"I didn't mean to blow up at him that badly," Rory admitted as she paced the pavement at a fast pace. A single tear had escaped from her right eye at one point, leaving a delicate trail on her cheek that Lucas was tempted to wipe away. He didn't, though; he left her to vent in a bubble of her personal space for the moment.

Rory sighed. "I just…I was so mad at him for acting as though I'd betrayed Logan. I haven't. It was all him. I just want to put it…in the past. Oh, my God," she sighed, giggling ruefully. "I can't believe I did that. That was so embarrassing. Did you see how that old guy was looking at me?"

Lucas cracked a smile. "Yeah, he definitely thought you were crazy."

"I'm sorry, too, for snapping at you," she said, gesturing toward his ear, clearly talking about his phone call. "That was completely unfair, considering you're…you, and you've done so much." She finally stopped pacing and took an unsteady breath. "I just…I feel really, really weird today. Like…I don't know, maybe I'm forgetting something? Or…or I…I'm confused. I feel almost lightheaded from it."

"You're tired," he comforted her. "I get that all the time when I'm tired, that feeling when things just don't seem to line up the way they should. It's like a strange form of dizziness. That it?"

She nodded, thankful that she wasn't totally losing it. She took another deep breath. "I really want some ice cream," she confessed with a pout.

He grinned. She had more addictions than coffee, he was slowly learning. "You need your chocolate fix?"

To his complete surprise, she made a face at the mention of the cocoa-filled goodness she so adored. "No, I actually really want…strawberry frozen yoghourt." She frowned. "Is that weird?"

"That sounds a little bit healthy, so if it is weird, it's good weird," Lucas told her with his grin still in place. He tilted his head in the direction of the nearest ice cream place. "Let's do it."

They walked in synchronized steps, and he could sense Rory calming beside him, settling into a relaxed state. "Hey, Lucas?"

"Hey, Rory?" he imitated her teasingly.

She analyzed his expression with an intelligent glint in her sapphire orbs. "Whose calls are you avoiding?"

"Ah, the journalist strikes again."

"Hey," she said again, knowing right away that he was trying to escape having to answer the question. "Seriously. Is everything okay?"

He gave her a grateful smile at her concern. He was touched. "Yeah, everything's fine, someone's just being annoying," he said lamely. "You don't need to worry about me, Rory."

She bit her lip before answering: "But what if I want to?" She let her repetition of his words to her the previous night settle into the air between them before adding, "Besides, you've taken very good care of me. One of these days, you're going to have to let me return the favour."

"I'll hold you to that, Miss Gilmore."

She gave a firm nod, pleased with his response, and met his eyes with attractive confidence. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

It was obvious that Rory wanted to forget that morning's fight. For the rest of the day, she was animated, full of jokes and quick to laugh and always ready with a witty comeback. They didn't run out of things to talk about. Rory could have an hour-long conversation about the Oompa Loompa's in _Willy Wonka_, for crying out loud – they were never without a discussion topic. Like a good little journalist, Rory knew everything there was to know about politics, and Lucas playfully debated her on the day's headlines as best as he could when they watched the news together, back at the suite once more. A piece came on about secret societies in mega-rich America and Lucas noticed how she instantly clammed up. Rory talked. It was what she did. It was therefore always an alarm when she stopped doing so.

"Spill," he told her gently, tilting her chin up so that she had to meet his eyes.

She sighed. "Yale's an Ivy, right? So there's a secret society. I did an article on it once."

He waited patiently through the background info until she got to whatever was really bothering her.

"Logan got me in. And they do these stupid stunts…we did one together. It was just…I don't know, our first connection, I guess."

"I'm sorry."

With a heavy sigh, she looked back at the TV. "I'm not. I mean, this sucks so much, but…there were good things. And I loved him." She returned her eyes to his. "People break up. It's how the world is. I figure…or at least, I'd like to figure…that in the end, you break up for a deeper reason."

"And what is that?" Lucas asked, genuinely curious.

"There's something better out there," she said softly, her eyes shifting to the floor before she made eye contact again. "There has to be."

He could feel the sympathy coming off of him in waves. The empathy. "That's optimistic," he said sadly, finding it admirable that she was able to think that way but not necessarily agreeing.

She laughed. Really, it was a dry sob, but she tried to disguise it as a laugh and Lucas let her. Her watery gaze was passionately full of hope. "Is that so wrong?"

Slowly, he shook his head, remembering the anecdote he'd once been told by a girl with a pretty smile and melancholy eyes. "There's nothing wrong with happy endings," he said, paraphrasing liberally as he relayed the wisdom.

She surprised him by realizing that he had quoted another source. "Who said that?" she whispered.

"My friend's mom. The one who died of cancer. She once said that there was nothing wrong with fairytales, they all have happy endings."

Rory's smile said _I'm sorry_ for her. "Good advice." After a beat, she asked, "Did your friend find that fairytale?"

He shrugged calmly and widened his eyes, asking _who knows? _He wanted, or maybe needed, to lighten the mood. "Not yet."

"Hm." Rory smiled. "We'll have to start a club."

He laughed indulgently.

She sat up a little. "I call being president."

Lucas smiled warmly at the dare hidden in her facial expression. "You wish."

She giggled, grabbing the remote from his unresisting hands and beginning to flick through the channels. "We'll have the members vote."

"Unfair."

"It's not my fault I'm more likeable," she replied with an innocent flutter of her eyelashes.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I'm going to take a shower. You want to order pizza or something?"

"Lots of meat!" she cheered, quirking her eyebrows, obviously having intended to sound dirty.

"That innocent look of yours is just a façade, isn't it?"

"Damn, you caught on," she joked, mock-regretful, and stuck her tongue out. "Go get clean. I can order a pizza. I've been doing it all my life."

"_That_ I believe," he laughed as he made his way to the bathroom.

Lucas enjoyed long, lazy showers. However, he kept a vague sense of time. He didn't want to leave Rory alone for too long, not just because it would be rude, but because she would eat all the pizza herself if he wasn't out there when it arrived to claim his share.

When he finally got out of the warm spray of water, he towelled off and stepped into his pants. It was steamy and hot in the bathroom; he was already beginning to sweat a little and he didn't want to put on the long-sleeved shirt he'd brought in with him. Would it be weird to walk out there without a shirt?

Of course it wouldn't. Rory had just told Colin that very morning that there was nothing between them. There was nothing between them. He sort of wished there was, he could admit that, but at least now he didn't have to wear the heavy piece of clothing. She didn't have feelings for him, so it didn't matter. Forgoing his shirt without a second thought, he went back out into the common room. "Rory?" he asked. She wasn't there. The TV was still on, on C-SPAN, and she'd made coffee, he could smell it, but she wasn't there. With a confused frown, he walked into his own room to see her curled up on his bed. "Rory?" he asked again.

There was a cup of coffee sitting in front of her, but it didn't appear as though she'd actually consumed any of it. Next to the blue mug sat a red delicious apple with two perfect bites taken out of it. Rory was staring at the coffee and apple, frozen in place. Her eyes held an expression of mournful, controlled…panic. The whole situation seemed like somebody's avant-garde, modern-day, slightly messed-up version of _Snow White_. "Rory?" Lucas asked yet again, kneeling down in front of her so that they were eye to eye. He ran a finger lightly against her warm, pale cheek. He wondered if she needed to have another Logan breakdown.

Her eyes seemed to search for his face even though he was directly in front of her. They finally settled, locking with his, and she took a sharp breath in. "Rory?" he repeated yet again, softly and tenderly. The saviour in him was at the ready.

"I think…I'm pregnant."

**A/N:** And the clichés just keep on coming, don't they? I couldn't help myself. You want to know what's going to happen next? Reviews are always the answer.


	10. Choices

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews, everyone. Keep it up, I really do love you for it.

For a moment, he just stared at her, at the acute sadness in her blue eyes. It took a second before he could realize, disbelievingly, that she had in fact said what she'd just said.

He swallowed thickly, ingesting her news. _Okay. Rory thinks she's pregnant. She thinks, but she doesn't _know_, and still, she's looking at you like you're her only hope in the world._

It was like redemption. A chance to do it right.

"Okay," he said softly, as tears fell from her eyes. His heart ached for her. How much had she cried in the past few days? Too much. "Oh, Rory." He put his entire hand over hers and held onto her fingers gently. "It's going to be okay."

She took in a short breath. "You know how it is, right? You know. When your mom got pregnant with you when she was a teenager, you can't…you can't repeat her mistake. You just can't."

"Yeah," he said sympathetically. He really did know. "My girlfriend had a pregnancy scare in high school, and my mom slapped me. I know." He gaze her hand an extra squeeze. "I understand."

She pulled away from him abruptly, almost pushing him away. "No, no you don't!" she cried, contradicting herself. "Whatever happened in high school, you were there. You were there for her. My boyfriend and I just _broke up_. He cheated on me. This can't be happening right now. I don't have anyone."

It was then that she totally broke down, sobbing in earnest into his pillow. He watched her sadly, knowing that she needed the time to cry, to get the really heavy emotion out so that she could think a little. It was nine minutes, according to his digital clock, before her tears subsided a bit.

Tentatively, he took her hand again, interlacing their fingers. He caressed the soft skin of her hand with his thumb. He waited until her tragic eyes found his face again. "I'm right here," he whispered.

* * *

Rory didn't know how it had happened. Well, she knew how it had happened, it had happened when she and Logan had had sex, that much was obvious. It was the deeper things she didn't understand.

Rory was the queen of precaution. They always used protection, _and_ she was on the pill. Growing up as the daughter of a woman only sixteen years older than you taught you to be extra careful.

Why _now_? She couldn't help but wonder. Why, when she was already so sad?

She couldn't believe it when she picked up the apple. She'd been pouring herself a cup of coffee when she saw it, and all of a sudden it just looked so, so very good. The strawberry frozen yoghourt earlier hadn't been that strange – it was still basically junk food. But she'd seen that apple and been absolutely ravenous for it. She'd wanted that apple with the intensity that she usually reserved only for coffee first thing in the morning. The first bite she took was heaven. She couldn't remember ever enjoying anything healthy quite as much. It really satisfied her craving. The second bite sent her hurtling back in time, leaving her to draw her own scary conclusions.

_She listened to her mother's rant, unsure of what to feel as Lorelai discussed the chance that she was pregnant. Lorelai rambled about how the last time things had gotten 'primordial', and told Rory that it was her age plus nine months. _

_Rory tried to be soothing and supportive, using reason to comfort her mother. "But, that doesn't mean –"_

_Her mother cut her off purposefully. "I just ate an apple."_

_"Whoa," Rory said softly, realizing the significance of that craving._

_"My body is telling me something," Lorelai said firmly. _

She'd stared at that apple for a good five minutes, her mind blank except for a single horrified thought of _Oh. My. God._ Then her brain burst into overdrive, trying to figure out if there had ever been a point when they hadn't been careful.

She couldn't think of one. She needed to sit down. She'd worked hard to avoid this, she really had.

She couldn't have a baby. She couldn't be a mom.

She really, really needed to sit down.

Rory wandered into Lucas' room aimlessly, still clutching her mug of coffee and barely-eaten apple. She set them both down on the nightstand with careful precision before collapsing onto the bed, curling into the foetal position, wishing it had another, not-baby-related name. She shut her eyes tightly and didn't open them again until she heard Lucas call her name from the common room. It was only after he came in, kneeled down in front of her and looked at her with that _look_ of his that she fell apart. She really did hate surprises, more than anything.

"Rory," he said so kindly she thought her heart might break cleanly into two pieces. "Breathe, okay? Breathe for a minute, just calm down. No matter what, it'll be okay."

She gripped his hand tightly and concentrated on inhaling and exhaling steadily. "Okay," she whispered, wanting nothing more than to believe him.

She recognized the contemplative, reflective look in his eyes. He was doing some quick thinking, drawing conclusions as fast as he could. "Okay," he said back. "You _think_ you're pregnant? You haven't taken a test? Not yet?"

Rory shook her head against the pillow it rested on. "I ate an apple," she informed him, desperate for him to understand what that meant.

But, of course, that was a ridiculous expectation. "Sorry, Ror, you're going to have to give me more than that."

"I don't eat…fruit. I know I should," she hastily added, "but I don't, I don't like it, and I ate an apple. My mom doesn't eat fruit either, and the only time she's ever wanted an apple was when she was pregnant with me. That, and this other time when she had a scare."

"So maybe that's all this is," his soft voice reasoned. "A scare."

Rory shook her head stubbornly. "The thing is, I am so careful. So, so careful. But Logan…and his friends, I mean, you've seen Colin and Finn. They get really drunk, and they do stupid stuff, so no matter how careful I have always been…we were probably stupid at some point." It was the strangest, most surreal situation she had been in to date, she realized as she spoke. She never thought she'd be discussing her sex life with her ex with the guy who was looking at her with such adoration in his eyes.

"None of that means anything for sure. Rory, it's okay. If you're pregnant, we'll figure it out. If you're not…" he shrugged, "you're not."

Tears blurred her vision. "_We'll_ figure it out?"

His serious smile became lighter. "Well, yeah. You didn't think I was going to quit at this point, did you? Do you remember nothing about my life story? Drama and I, we hang out all the time."

* * *

Lucas' mind was on some sort of rapid-fire speed, so he took a moment to just think and calm it down. Somewhere in his mind, the right thing to do, the right solution to every problem existed. He didn't want to pile all his advice onto Rory in one huge rambling rant, though, so he decided to take everything one step at a time.

The first thing he had to do was stand; his long legs were cramping up as he crouched next to his bed. He stood, and then sat down on the mattress, placing one hand on the other side of Rory and leaning his weight into it. "You have to find out for sure." That was the most important thing.

"Yeah," she said in a small voice. "I know. I'm just…right now it's a _probably_, and that's scaring the hell out of me…I just can't know for certain. Not yet. Not this minute."

Fair enough. "You want to call your mom?" he asked quietly.

"No. No, no, no."

"Look, I know it seems like a really scary idea…but you need to tell her. You need to talk to her; she's already worried."

"She's already disappointed. This'd just throw her into new level of disappointment."

"You're not sixteen."

"I'm also not married."

He smiled. "Happy medium."

Her smile was exhausted and pained. "Not yet."

"When you know?"

She frowned at his insistence but gave in. "Fine. When I know."

"Which will be when?" It was an important question, but he kept his tone light, almost teasing – he knew he had to be getting annoying.

Rory groaned. "Will you shut up already?" The gravity of it all seemed to hit her once more as she took a sharp breath in. "God, I can't do this." She glanced to the side and pouted. "Will you hand me my apple?"

He complied wordlessly, picking the red delicious up by the stem and holding it out to her. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaning back against the wall, and took a big, crunchy bite. He waited patiently, knowing that he had to take her lead.

"Soon, I promise," she sighed. "Just not yet."

He quirked his eyebrows and gave her a pointed look. "Classic denial."

"I know, I know…I really do."

"So then why are you doing this to yourself?" he prodded. "Are you really just going to sit here and torture yourself for hours with the thought that you might, very possibly, be pregnant?"

"No," she shot back, putting her apple back down and raising her hands to massage her temples. "I'm going to go to sleep and pretend for a few hours that this is just a really sick dream."

Lucas sighed. "If that's what you want to do."

"It is," she replied with certainty. "Do you have some Nyquil, or something? Tylenol? A hell of a lot of Advil?"

"Rory," he said calmly. "Is this really the best time to be taking a bunch of pills?"

Her glare let him know that she knew he was right. Her lower lip slipped into a pout as she regarded him.

"What?"

"Will you read to me?" she asked softly, not meeting his eyes.

"I…yeah, sure. What're you in the mood for? No Camus," he joked.

Her eyes lit momentarily. "Your book?"

"Nope," he said jovially, sure of his response.

Her lip stuck out even further, but he didn't waver. Finally, with a sigh, she said, "How about…_Out of Africa_? You have that?"

"Are you questioning my taste in literature?"

"Yes," she said brazenly, throwing him a small smile.

Lucas retrieved the book and sat next to her on the bed. She sunk down into the pillows, pulling a blanket over her as though she needed a protective layer against the world. She closed her eyes tightly.

He looked down at her vulnerable form sadly. "Rory, are you sure –"

"Shh," she whispered. "Just read."

He had turned to page twenty-one by the time she finally passed out into full-on REM sleep. He watched her eyes move hastily behind her eyelids worriedly. She was tormenting herself, and he was concerned about her. He knew, on instinct, that she needed her mom. He could just tell.

Briefly, he toyed with the idea of calling Lorelai, but he knew that it wasn't his place. Rory would never forgive him. She needed to tell Lorelai herself.

She also had to tell Logan. Whether she was pregnant or not. Lucas, of all people, knew what it was like to be the guy in this situation, and he did sympathize with Logan, who looked like he didn't know how to live without Rory.

If she was pregnant, what would she do? Society etiquette would tell her to get married. Rory followed rules. Would she take back the boy she'd declared she hated hours ago so that they could be a family? Would she and Logan attempt to co-parent and still go their separate ways?

Lucas knew he needed to stop theorize. There were a million things that could potentially happen. He was aware of them all, and he had a pretty good idea of what his response would be to them all.

However, in the end, no matter how good his intentions were, his opinion didn't count. He cared about Rory, but he was not involved in this situation. He was the helpful, supportive friend. It was her body, and her baby, and her relationship. His input would be taken into consideration, but it didn't really mean anything. Nevertheless, he did love Rory (in whatever way he did) and he wanted to be there for her.

In a way, for both her sake and his, he needed to be.

* * *

When Rory awoke from her relaxing nap, she got a sinking feeling in her stomach that she recognized well. At other points in her life, when she'd been overwhelmed, she collapsed into bed for a few hours for some peace, and to gather her strength. The sleep was always good. She dreamed useless dreams, or didn't dream at all. But when she woke up, it all came crashing down on her again. For a second, she would allow herself to hope it had been a dream, and then something would distinctly remind her that it wasn't.

That day, it was the sight of her untouched coffee.

"I'm going to have to switch to decaf," she muttered in horrified realization.

Lucas, who'd been dozing by her side, stirred. "What?" he asked blearily.

"Coffee. You can't drink coffee when you're pregnant."

He nodded to himself, appearing to sense her impending freak out. "There's decaf."

"Decaf is not _coffee_."

"It tastes the same," he murmured, still waking up. "Maybe you can drink a little bit of coffee. The occasional cup. I'm taking a wild guess here when I say that I doubt your mother quit coffee when she was pregnant with you, and look at you. You're fine."

"I'm an addict," she retorted, labelling herself with the one term she'd always denied.

"There are worse things to be addicted too."

"I can't get my kid addicted to a drug before it's even _born_. Caffeine is a drug. We all know it, we all pretend it's not true, but it is, and I'm going to be responsible for ruining a life!"

"Rory, really –"

"I can't be a mom!" she cried. "I'm not ready for this! I don't know how! I'm not…a kid person. At least, not yet. I plan stuff, you know? I was supposed to have kids later. Maybe when I was thirty. And in love. Marriage wouldn't have been a bad precursor, either," she added sarcastically. She felt like she needed to cry again. "My mom gave up everything for me, and loved me enough to do everything in her power to get me here. That's twenty-one years of love and support and it's still going. I'm still the most important thing." Her lips were trembling. "I don't think I can do it. I'm too selfish. I'm not as strong as she is."

Lucas' hand fell lightly on her knee. "Maybe you can be."

"I wish."

"You have a great role model," he argued.

"She's going to be so upset."

"Maybe, for a few minutes," he agreed with a shrug. "But if she loves you as much as you say she does – and I know she does – then she'll get over it and support you so much."

Her tears overflowed, but she didn't sob. "I'm scared, Lucas. What if I mess up? I'm not ready. I don't…I don't think I can do it."

His words were well-chosen, she could tell by the pauses he took. "Well…you don't…have to keep it and raise…your kid. You have…other options."

Rory looked over at him, wearing a wry, rueful smile. "Do I really?"

"Of course you do. You could –"

"No, Lucas," she stopped him, her eyes boring into his. "Do _I_ really?" He searched her eyes, still not understanding, so with a sigh, she elaborated. "You know how it is, better than anyone. I _was_ that baby. And I think about it sometimes, don't you? My dad's parents wanted my mom to get an abortion. What if she had? I wouldn't exist. You've got to know that feeling, it's so strange and sad. What if she'd gone on to all the great things she could've had: her own Yale education, a different, but equally successful career, a marriage to my dad and kids way later in life? What if she'd put me up for adoption and I'd grown up thinking that other people were my parents, or what if I spent my whole life wondering who the woman who'd given me up was? What if I'd had parents who were abusive or annoying or neglectful? What if I hadn't had Lorelai?" She shook her head. "I can't get an abortion. I can't put my kid up for adoption. I can't."

He just smiled at her.

"What?" she asked warily.

He gently rubbed her knee. "You'll be a good mom. Don't worry about it."

She sighed and reached out for a hug, needing to be held for a moment. Lucas obliged, holding her tightly. He relaxed his hold after a couple minutes, but she didn't pull away, just rested her head on his chest.

"What now?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"You want to –"

"No."

"Okay. How about calling Lane or Paris? Do you need some girl talk?"

She smiled at his thoughtfulness but shook her head. "I can talk to them if you'd rather…" she said hesitantly.

"That's not what I meant," he replied patiently.

She shrugged, a difficult move while cocooned in his arms. "Then no, you're all I need."

He exhaled. "You want to call Logan?"

Rory instantly pulled away and stared at him incredulously. How could he ask that? Why would she? "No! No, I'm not telling that cheating bastard anything."

"Rory, he deserves to know."

She shook her head even though she knew he was right. "When…when I know for sure. I'll tell him then. I don't want to, but…I will."

"Promise?" he asked. She knew he would hold her to it.

"Yeah," she sighed. Her throat seemed to close up, then, her body registering her emotions before her mind did. She choked on a sob.

"Rory…?" Lucas asked.

She began to cry in earnest for the first time since he'd found her on his bed. "I don't want my baby to have to deal with that. Logan's not…he's Logan! He can't even be in a relationship without straying. I don't want my kid to have a dad like mine, a dad's who's amazing sometimes but who always lets you down and breaks your heart and never sticks around. It's not fair. It's not…" she trailed off as, this time, Lucas initiated the hug.

"Listen, Ror. I know you feel like you're not ready, and I know you're really scared, but you're tormenting yourself here. We're sitting here planning your future, and your baby's future, and we don't even know if there is a baby yet. Can we go buy you a pregnancy test?"

She sighed helplessly and was relieved when he held her just a little bit tighter. "Can I have a banana, first?" she asked pathetically.

* * *

Rory eyed the drugstore as she chewed her last bite of banana slowly. Lucas knew he needed to wait for her to make the first move. She had to be ready to face this.

She was shaking, though she was trying not to. He took the banana peel out of her unresisting hands and dropped it back in the grocery bag, making a mental note to take the garbage out of Colin's car. He was thankful his roommate had agreed to let them take the vehicle. He was obviously very suspicious of their relationship, but Colin must have known something was wrong from the look on Lucas' face, because he handed over the keys.

She sniffled. Her eyes were red and shadowed. "They have bathrooms in drugstores, right?"

"Usually," he replied with a nod.

"Okay. So I think that maybe…I'll just take it in there."

Lucas felt his eyebrows shoot up. "Really? You don't want to be at home when you find out?" He realized when the words left his mouth that he'd referred to _his_ dorm room as _her_ home, but she didn't notice. Not that he could blame her; she had more important things to think about.

He saw her swallow hard, and admired the way she was trying to keep herself together. He placed his hand on her elbow to let her know that if she needed to let go a little, he was there. She glanced at him, then down at his hand, and her lips twisted into a sad excuse for a smile. "I think I just need to find out. Right now."

"Okay," he shrugged, undoing his seatbelt and reaching for his door handle. She didn't move, so he turned back to look at her, expecting tears.

Instead, he saw amazement and gratitude. "You're coming with me?" she asked softly, as though she hadn't expected it.

"I'm not coming into the bathroom with you," he told her with a quick, teasing grin, "but I'm coming with you, of course I am."

She walked into the store determinedly and marched down an aisle that had several labels, one of which was 'family planning'. Society-friendly code for birth control and pregnancy tests. He followed close behind and kept a watchful eye on her expression as she examined the various brands in front of her.

A middle-aged women stepped back them briefly, her walk businesslike, but in the one moment Lucas really looked at her, he saw conclusions in her eyes. She'd looked at Rory's pained expression and shot an automatic frown at Lucas. He really hated people who made assumptions when they had no right to.

"If only she knew."

His eyes flew to Rory, who was looking at him with a ghost of her normally cheerful grin. He hadn't thought she'd noticed the woman. "Ignore her."

"I intend to," she said purposefully. "You're wonderful and my ex-boyfriend's probably in Vegas for all I know, and I hate that she thinks she can assume things about my life." She exhaled and turned back to the shelf. Her shaky hand reached out and closed around a box. She held it up and quirked her eyebrows. "Let's do this."

He kept his arm around her as she paid, to support her and also to avoid any more scowls directed his way. The teenage girl at the cash register rang it through, stealing not-so-subtle expressions at them while she made the transaction. As she tore the receipt off and handed over Rory's change, she said softly, "I hope that tells you what you want it to."

Had Lucas been in her position, he never would have said a word. Though it was none of her business, he appreciated the girl's bravery and her sentiment, so he just shot her a half-assed smile before guiding Rory away.

"Okay," Rory said quietly as she stepped into the bathroom. "This is it."

Lucas reached out and rubbed her arm reassuringly before she closed the door. He leaned back against the wall as he waited, lazily reading a poster for some community event. His heart was pounding quickly. He thought he might've absorbed some of Rory's nervousness.

A couple minutes later her delicate voice called, "Come in."

* * *

Rory looked up from where she sat on the floor as Lucas entered the room. She knew she must have looked pathetic, sitting with her back to the wall on the floor of a drugstore bathroom. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and was clutching her watch like it could save her. "Three minutes," she reported softly.

He sat down on the floor next to her and gently draped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, but she didn't cry. She just wished she could will the second hand on her watch to move a little bit faster. She thought it was sweet of Lucas to sit there on the dirty floor with her. Everything he'd done had been perfect.

"You were wrong earlier," he said quietly into her hair.

"About what?"

"When you said you weren't strong enough to do what your mother had done. Look at you now. You are strong." His lips brushed the skin of her forehead. "You're gonna be okay."

"Thank you. For…everything." She pulled back slightly to smile at him. "You, too, you know? You're going to be a good parent. Whenever that happens for you."

Bitter, painful regret suddenly surfaced in his ocean blue eyes, surprising her. "Thank you," was all he said, but she sensed that her words had hurt him in some way. Fatherhood had to be tough for him to discuss after everything that had happened with his own father and his uncle, his constant father-figure. She was about to pry when her watch beeped.

Taking a deep breath, she looked down at it. Three minutes had indeed passed. "Okay," she said to herself, but she didn't move.

Lucas gave her a second, then pulled his arm away and asked, "You gonna look at that?"

She screwed up her face as though in pain. "Would you?" she asked in a tentative whisper.

He looked a little shocked, but not uncomfortable. "You sure?"

She laughed a little, nervously. "I'm more sure about this than I am about anything else in my life right now."

The world seemed to go in slow motion as Lucas stood up and walked over to where her test was resting. "You ready?" he asked her gently.

Rory winced, knowing that whatever he told her would be the truth. It was a very easy test to read. There was no mistaking lines or colours or symbols. If it said _pregnant_, then that's what she was. "Look at it," she whispered, painfully swallowing over the lump in her throat.

She squeezed her eyes shut, gripping the test box, which she still held in her hands along with her watch, and breathed in bravely. She was determined to be ready if the next words out of his mouth were: "You're going to be a mom."

She heard him exhale and swallowed again, more thickly than before. "Well?" she whispered.

**A/N: **Review! :)


	11. Understanding

His words shocked her, it was easy to see that. She seemed to stop breathing for a moment.

"What?" Rory asked with hopeful eyes, her gaze powerful and intense.

"It's negative," Lucas repeated.

She dropped her head into her hands. He watched as her shoulders shook, unsure of whether she was laughing or crying. He knelt down next to her and put a hand on each of her shoulders.

She looked back up at him with a watery smile, placing her hands on his forearms.

"How're you feeling?" he asked.

"I…I don't know," she spluttered. She gave a half-laugh, smiled at him, and said, "I…oh, thank god, I just…"

"It's okay if you're upset."

"I think I'm…everything…right now," she breathed, as if in awe at her own thoughts.

Lucas could only imagine what she was thinking, but he was happy for her. He kissed her forehead on impulse before he stood slowly, pulling her with him. He pried the box from her hands, threw both it and the test into the garbage, and gently tugged her toward the door.

"Where're we going?" she asked, tilting her head up to look at him.

"Let's just go home and lie down," he told her as they stepped out into the light of the day again. It was much softer, much kinder than the fluorescent lights in the store had been.

Her breathing was shallow, the way one's breathing got when something significant was happening. "That sounds better than you can possibly understand."

He smiled at her as he opened the door for her. "I think I get it."

* * *

Rory flopped onto Lucas' bed, utterly exhausted. He flopped next to her with a little less gusto. She automatically found herself cuddling into his strong arms, and sighed as she rested her head against the pillow, wearing a distant smile.

"What're you thinking, Gilmore?" he asked her.

"I'm happy," she said on an exhale. "I am. I wasn't ready for that."

"But?"

"Maybe it would have been okay," she sighed. "Maybe."

"Don't worry about it. One day, you'll have kids and it'll be the right timing. You'll still do as much crying, but they might be happier tears."

She giggled, letting her eyes close. She wasn't pregnant. She didn't have to worry anymore. She did feel a little upset, deep down. The thought of having a child, as much as it terrified her, didn't seem so hellish when she really thought about it. She'd come to believe Lucas' solemn words. She could be a good mom. But not now. Not yet.

Rory let her eyes close; amazed that she could feel sleepy yet again. It had been a draining day, that was for sure, but she'd spent so much time slumbering lately. Emotional exhaustion, Lorelai would say.

"Wanna hear something funny?" she murmured into the folds of Lucas' shirts.

"Funny ha-ha or funny strange?"

"The latter. Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't. What is it?"

"I always thought that if I had a baby, and it was a boy, I'd name him Lucas."

There was a pause before he asked, "Yeah?"

"Yeah. After Luke, my mom's fiancé. In my family, you get named after people, or for things, and I like that. I think it's a nice idea to pick a name for your kid that means something to you. And Luke, of all people, deserves that. He's been…he'd never admit it, but he's been my dad. He's always looked out for me and cared about how people treated me. He was proud of me when I needed someone to be, he gave me lots of coffee, and when I dropped out of Yale for a while, he reacted like a parent would. He cried at my high school graduation. He means a lot to me, but he's not…open. He's not the kind of person you say something like that to. But if I named my baby after him, then I could make sure that he knew." She smiled up at her new friend. Her hair fell in her face and Lucas brushed it away for her. Her smile grew. "Now I definitely have to name my baby boy Lucas."

"Why now?"

She felt the warmth of her blush in her cheeks but she didn't look away. "Because you've done a lot for me as well. You mean a lot to me, too."

She heard his sharp intake of breath. He obviously didn't know what she intended those words to mean. Honestly, she didn't know either. She'd just broken up with Logan, but she was so inexplicably attracted to Lucas. She wasn't carrying another man's child, so that certainly made things easier, but at the same time, Rory Gilmore didn't jump into things. She had once, with Logan. It had been scary and hard and she'd ended up hurt. But there had been moments when they'd been so in love that maybe, it was all worth it. She had definitely learned something. Sometimes you needed to make the leap and just find out. Rory eyed Lucas' lips. She ached to find out, but she was also scared. She hated to mess up friendships. When it came to relationships, her second high school boyfriend, Jess, had been her biggest loss in that way. Like Lucas, they'd had obvious attraction. Also like Lucas, they had been friends first, good enough friends to discuss nearly everything after their initial bonding over music and movies. She'd honestly been in love with Jess, and she'd been heartbroken when he left, but as the years went by, she realized that what she missed most was her friend.

Lucas was her rock and her saviour right now. The one friend she couldn't afford to lose.

She stopped her lustful inspection of his lips, ashamed of herself. She needed him too much. With a tormented sigh, she allowed her body to relax as she slowly gave into sleep.

* * *

When Rory was sound asleep for what seemed like the infinite time in the past forty-eight hours, Lucas cautiously loosened his hold on her and moved away. It was evening, getting dark outside, and he felt particularly broody.

Her earlier words haunted him, chased after him until he settled in front of his laptop. Even then, they still lingered in his mind. _You mean a lot to me, too_. Because he'd been there for her when she needed someone to care, someone not to judge. _You mean a lot to me, too_. Because she had a thing for him. Maybe. Sometimes, the way she looked at him…

The little blinking black line in his Word document mocked him mercilessly. _You suck, _it said. He exited the screen with an aggressive click of his mouse. He knew he did.

He considered instant messaging like it was a foreign phenomenon. If there was anything he needed, it was his best friend's advice.

He could just sign on, he figured. And if she was there, maybe they could talk.

There was no maybe about it. The moment he was online, his computer began to make those irritating beeping noises that indicated the receipt of messages.

**HaleyJScott: **What the hell?

**HaleyJScott: **Where have you BEEN? Are you okay? I've been so worried about you! Is everything alright? Karen said she talked to you and you seemed okay, but I really didn't know what to think because I can't really know what's going on with you unless I can see you. That's probably why you went so goddamn far away. Luke, Nathan's going crazy. Why have you been avoiding our calls?

**HaleyJScott:** Lucas Eugene Scott, you reply to me right now or I swear to god I will come down there and kill you.

Lucas shook his head fondly. Haley, the most intelligent person he knew, never bothered herself with cutesy text or IM lingo. Her correctly spelled, grammatical messages always made him smile.

**HaleyJScott:** LUKE!

**LukeS:** Hi, Haley.

**HaleyJScott:** Pick up the phone and CALL ME, you jerk.

He chuckled in spite of himself, picking up his cell phone and dialling the long distance number.

"Luke, look," Haley answered the phone, "I know you go through stuff and you get all intense…and gloomy and…you get really withdrawn, I know, but you can't just block me out like that. I need you to talk to me. I really do."

He felt bad when he heard the anguish in her voice, but he couldn't resist a practical joke. "Uh, Ms. James-Scott?" he asked, deepening his voice. "This is Peter, uh…Peterson with Illuminate Records…"

"Oh, um…God, I'm so sorry," she replied quickly flustered. "I really shouldn't answer the phone like that, just assuming stuff. It's just that I have this best friend who _tries to play really stupid, immature jokes on me_. I hate you."

"Nah, you love me," he replied casually, not entirely surprised that she'd figured him out.

"Yeah, I do, you idiot, and I'm worried about you." Her voice was earnest, pleading with him to be honest.

"I'm sorry, Haley, about all of it."

"Oh, Lucas, I know… wait, why are you talking like that?"

"Like what?" He asked her in his most innocent voice.

"All hushed and careful…" Haley gasped. "Lucas Scott, is there a girl in your room?"

"Haley," he groaned.

"Luke…" her playfulness died away only to be replaced by her maternal tone. "What're doing?"

For such a simple question, it was a loaded one. He took a moment to think about it. "I don't know," he finally confessed.

Haley was quiet for a minute. "That's okay," she finally said. "Just tell me what I can do to help, please."

"I need your advice."

"_Good!_ Tell me everything."

"Don't be judgmental, Haley, please." He had been that person for Rory for days now. That supportive listener, a constant presence. He didn't mind it, he enjoyed it, even; it was just that he now needed someone to be there for him, too.

"I promise to try my hardest," she swore, and that was all he could ask of her.

"So that girl? Rory. She is in my room right now, asleep; everything's totally innocent, I swear. She just…needed a friend, and someone to take care of her."

"You two barely know each other," Haley inputted softly.

"We know enough."

She let his words sink in. "Go on."

"Well, we met, we flirted, I found out she had a boyfriend, she apologized for flirting…I thought that would be the end of the story. Then she shows up here, at my dorm room, a total mess because her boyfriend cheated on her, so I just took care of her."

"Always the good guy in the end."

"And then she thought she was pregnant, so I helped her through that, too. She's not pregnant, but of course she's still kind of in shock…so she's asleep right now. But before she fell asleep she said something to me and I just…don't know what to do with it."

"What was it?" Haley's voice was oh-so-gentle.

"She was rambling about how if she ever had a baby boy she always wanted to name him Lucas. It's her mother's fiancé's name, and he's been a dad to her, and he means a lot to her. She said he wasn't the type of person you could just say something like that to, so if she named her baby for him, he'd understand how important he was to her."

"Good reasoning," Haley commented when he paused, knowing that there was more.

"And then she said that now, after all of this, she'll definitely name her kid Lucas. I said why, and she said…You mean a lot to me, too."

"Oh," Haley said faintly.

He sighed. "This is where I need you to do the girl thing, Hales, and understand what she's thinking, and then tell me."

"As much as I would love to be able to, I can't read minds," she reminded him kindly. "It sounds like…you've been great to her, and she's thankful for that, and…like maybe she likes you."

"It's too soon."

"Oh, Luke. Sometimes there's no such thing as _too soon_. Remember me, your best friend? Fell in love with the bad boy super-quickly? Got married in high school?"

He laughed but said nothing.

"You really like her, huh?"

He hated that those words, while light and joyful, had a sense of mourning and pain hidden behind them. "I wish you could say that more cheerfully."

"Oh, Luke, I love you, but I love the girl whose heart you broke just as much."

"She broke my heart, too," he countered calmly, determined not to lose his cool. "Hales, don't I deserve this?"

"_Lucas_. Of course you do. I want you to be happy. I really do."

"Thanks, Haley."

"Listen. I know you think it's too soon, but maybe it's not. And I wish, with all my heart, that the boy I love and the girl I love could be together like they deserve. I've…been disappointed in both of you, Luke, in the past. I can admit that. But I always believed you would find your way back. That maybe you two could have forever, like Nathan and I. But," she sighed, "you've told me that that's not going to happen. And if it's not going to happen, then I want you to be happy. Does she…does Rory make you happy?"

Lucas stood and walked over to Rory, covering her with a blanket and studying her angelic face. "Yeah. She does."

"I can tell that she means something to you, too. I want it to work out for you, Luke. I do."

"Thank you." He shut of all the lights in the room, save more the lamp above his desk. He returned to his laptop. "Is Nathan really pissed?"

"I'll calm him down. Don't worry about that."

"Have you…talked to her? Have you seen her?"

"I can't, Luke," Haley said quietly, letting him know that she couldn't have that discussion with him. It was only fair, he knew.

"Okay," he said heavily. "So. How's that baby of yours?"

"Good," Haley laughed fondly. "Kicking like crazy."

"Jamie did, too, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did. Hey, did he tell you about his _big game_?"

"No," Lucas laughed. "What's the deal there?"

* * *

When Rory woke up she felt disoriented and afraid. She recognized her surroundings fairly quickly. She was in Lucas' bed, as per usual. It was the middle of the night. Lucas was seated at his desk, staring at his laptop like it was his arch-nemesis.

She'd had one of the most realistic dreams of her life, and her eyes filled with tears as a sudden longing hit her. She wanted what she'd had in that imaginary world.

_"Rory! We're home, babe!"_

_Rory's heart leapt and her eyes lit up. She stepped into the foyer just as her husband disappeared into his office just off of it, yelling something vague about one last work call. _

_"Yeah, yeah," she called after him playfully, and then scooped her child out of the stroller that sat there._

_"Mama," he gurgled happily, beaming up at her. _

_"Hey, my beautiful baby boy," she cooed back, leaning in to brush her nose against his. "My baby boy…" she murmured, hit by a wave of love so forceful it practically hurt. She kissed his little forehead, his chubby cheeks, his tiny hands. _

_"Mommy!" another voice said from the doorway, demanding her attention. A little girl with coffee-coloured locks and distinctly blue eyes dropped her backpack unceremoniously. _

_Rory's eyes lit up once again as she opened her free arm to her daughter. "Hey, chickadee, how was school today?"_

_The little girl sank into her hug, clinging onto her. "Charlie Mattson stole my Oreos," she reported gravely. _

_"Aw, honey," Rory said sympathetically, aware of how much she sounded like her own mother in that moment. "I'm sorry."_

_"I hate him."_

_"Don't say that, sweetie. You know what I think?" She'd been making a special effort to form strong connections with her firstborn lately. Her daughter had adjusted fluidly to the birth of her now one-year-old brother, but when Rory sat her down to inform her of the impending birth of another sibling, she'd begun pouting. _

_"What do you think?"_

_"I think Charlie Mattson might like you."_

_"Ew, Mom, I hate Charlie Mattson."_

_Rory's husband rejoined them just as the baby started to whine, so she turned her attention to him. "Sorry, I know you hate it when I bring my work home - that's it for today, I promise," her husband said quickly, brushing his hand over her shoulder before he leaned down to swoop up his daughter. "Oh, my princess. That's what I like to hear!" he cried jovially as the little girl giggled delightedly. "Boys are stupid, right? You think like that for the next thirty years, okay?"_

_"Daddy, don't be silly."_

_"Yeah, don't be silly," Rory added teasingly without looking up, kissing her little boy's forehead. "How was Lucas today?" she asked, nodding toward the child she held without taking her eyes off of him._

_"Oh, he was perfect. What about you? And you," he added, setting their daughter down and bending to drop a kiss on his wife's stomach. _

_Rory smiled, running her hand quickly through her husband's blonde hair. He straightened up, but just before she saw his face, everything went white. _

And then she was back in Lucas' dorm room.

"Rory?" he was asking. "Rory, what is it?" He crossed the room to sit next to her.

"I…I had this dream." He reached out to wipe her tears away. She didn't even know she'd been crying. "And I had…kids. This little girl, she was so cute, and a baby boy – named Lucas – and God, he just…he was so perfect, he took my breath away. _And_, I was pregnant, and my husband…he was there, but I don't know who…" She trailed off as she looked into Lucas' eyes. _It might have been you_, she thought, and for a moment she couldn't breathe. She needed Lorelai to interpret this dream for her, very badly.

"It's okay if you're upset that you're not pregnant," he said soothingly. "I mean, you were so sure you were. It's okay if you got used to the idea. Or warmed up to it. It's okay if you're sad now."

She shrugged sadly. "I didn't think I was."

He shrugged, too. "Dreams are funny things."

"Yeah…they are. Do you think dreams mean something?"

"I don't know. At least on a shallow level. That makes sense, doesn't it? You're still upset about your breakup with Logan, and you miss the idea of having a family with him?"

Rory knew she was being childish, but she couldn't help making a face. "No, I don't like it. New analysis, please."

Lucas chuckled. "Sorry, not possible. Take it or leave it."

"Leave it," Rory replied firmly. "That's not how I want to feel." She rephrased: "That's not how I feel." She blew out her breath and looked around the room, searching for a clock. Lucas wordlessly pointed to the one next to her and she turned to see the time. "Four a.m. Why are you still awake?"

"Writer's block. Gives me insomnia."

"That sucks," she said sympathetically.

"Eh, it's alright. You get used to it, that's for sure. You should go back to sleep. What time's your first class tomorrow?"

"Class?" she asked blankly.

"Yeah," he said with a small smile. "I know it seems like it's been almost a year, but it's only been a weekend. Tomorrow's Monday."

"Oh." It definitely had felt like much longer. She'd fallen apart and gotten herself back together at least three times in one weekend. "Um…Monday. Eight. My first class is at eight."

"Better close your eyes then. If I wake you up at seven will that be enough time?"

She settled back down under the blankets. She was wary of drifting off again, worried that she might dream about her ideal far-off life again. "Yeah, that'll be fine. Lucas…I know this is getting redundant, but thank you."

"Go to sleep, Rory. That gives me three hours to figure out another way to say _don't mention it_."

* * *

Lucas didn't have a class until eleven fifteen, so he hovered outside of Rory's class to wait for her when it was over. Her face lit up when she saw him, and he inwardly chided himself when he realized he was getting all mushy at the thought.

"Hey, you," she greeted him with her pretty smile in place. "God, that was _the_ most relaxing discussion class of my life." She gasped, "Aw, you brought coffee? You're too good to me."

He smiled back nervously. He wasn't exactly the bearer of bad news, but he wasn't sure how she was going to react to what he was going to say to her. "Yeah, well, I'm a little scared of the idea of you without your caffeine fix."

She took a long drink. "Mm. You should be."

"You have another class today?"

"No, Monday's my slow day. I get class over with in the morning and have the rest of the day to work or relax."

"You already have working or relaxing planned for today?"

She shook her head. "No. Why, you wanna do something?"

_Yeah, make out_, he thought, and then wanted to hit his head on a very hard wall. She looked happy, but he could tell that she was still feeling a little unsettled. Understandably. There'd been a few hours when she'd been certain she was going to be mom. Now she knew that wasn't true.

"Lucas?" she asked, quirking her eyebrows. "Do I even want to know what you were thinking about?"

He hit her arm lightly. "Just got lost for a minute. I have a class at eleven fifteen. Let's sit, okay? We need to talk."

Rory shot him a confused look as they sat down together on a stone bench. She took another big drink of coffee. "Are you breaking up with me?" she teased.

For a moment, he was filled with so much pride that he completely forgot that he'd intended to talk to her about something serious. He was proud of her, and how much strength she had, even if she didn't know it. He had a lot of respect for the fact that she could sit there, her hair elegantly styled, in a skirt and sweater, looking absolutely carefree. He was very proud that she could make a joke about breakups despite the one she'd just suffered through.

"Rory," he said seriously.

"Lucas."

He sighed. "You have to talk to Logan."

Her demeanour changed instantly. "No," she said stubbornly, her lower lip slipping into a pout. "Why?" she demanded harshly.

"He deserves to know."

Her hair whipped back and forth as she shook her head. "He cheated on me. What could I possibly owe him?"

"Rory." She knew the answers already. He wasn't going to get into all of it.

She huffed angrily. "If I _was_ pregnant, then fine, he would deserve to know. But I'm not. So what exactly does he deserve?"

"I get that, Rory. I know it makes sense to you. But you need to let him know."

"Why?" she whined, looking at him with big, sad eyes.

"Don't give me that face," he groaned. "I know it doesn't seem like it to you, but I swear, Ror, you need to let him know. I've been the guy here before, and I know that you need to tell him. But if you keep looking at me like…that…then I'll give up and let you do what you want."

"I know that," she said softly.

"That your puppy face works wonders, or that you should tell your ex-boyfriend that you thought you were pregnant."

With the briefest flash of a devilish smile, she replied, "I meant the former. But really, I guess…both."

"I know it's hard. But I promise you, this is right."

He had her best interests at heart. This would only come back to hurt her more later on. And he understood – sort of – what it was like to be Logan. He had Logan's interests at heart, too, his awareness of the fact that his ex-girlfriend thought she was pregnant. And maybe, he had his own selfish interests at heart, too. If he ever got the girl, Rory's past with Logan would inevitably affect their relationship, but the secrecy of her pregnancy scare was not something they'd need hanging over their heads.

**A/N: **Fair is fair, people. I give you the resolution to a cliffhanger, you give me a review. I promise Rory/Logan interaction next chapter for those of you who've been longing for it...and the more reviews I get the more tempted I am to hand over the next chapter.


	12. Belief

They went to get something to eat first, before she went to talk to Logan. Lucas knew now that Rory could handle anything much better after she'd consumed a lot of food. They went to an off-campus café, ordered lattes and two gigantic pieces of strawberry rhubarb pie, and sat down to talk.

He could tell that Rory had resigned herself to the idea of talking to her ex, and that she now, at least for a few minutes, she wanted nothing more than to forget about the whole idea. She needed to talk, so she prattled on about her class between bites of pie and sips of coffee. He finally interrupted her with a not-so-smooth segue: "William Shakespeare," he said impulsively.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry," he laughed. "But I really had no idea what you were talking about. I needed to move this into a topic area in which I have a little more expertise."

She gasped and grinned. "Oh, I have such a good Shakespeare story!"

"Do you?" At least he'd be able to understand it well. He hoped.

"About your clone!"

"I have a clone?" he asked sceptically, completely clueless as to where she was going with her tale.

"Yeah, the guy who looks exactly like you…only a little cuter, I guess."

"Gee, thanks."

"No!" she cried, so insistently it startled him. "Cuter in the puppy sense of the word."

"You've lost me again, Ror."

"You know, like, _aw, what a cute little puppy_. Cute in the adorable sense. He thought he was so macho but he was…younger. Cuter," she repeated with a shrug.

Lucas decided to just for it, throwing the banter up that extra notch to flirtatious bickering. "So he was cute, but I'm a stud?"

Rory stuck her tongue out. "Exactly," she said dryly.

He waved his hand in the universal gesture for _carry on_.

"Okay, well, his name was Tristan. He…well, I guess the correct term is 'lusted'…after me all through high school. I was his major conquest."

"I can see why."

She smirked, pleased, and continued, "I always thought it was to prove to his buddies that he could get into my pants – he called me 'Mary' – but in the end I guess it might have been more."

"Mary?"

Rory blushed. "Yeah, like, Virgin Mary."

Lucas couldn't resist smirking. "Alright, Mary Magdalene, tell me the rest of your story."

"Do not. Start," she ordered shortly, scowling at him. "My mom has been pulling that nickname out every once and a while since I lost my virginity, whenever she thinks I'm acting like a prude. As though reminding me that I'm sexually active is going to change my –" She stopped short. "Why am I telling you this?"

"Because I'm inherently trustworthy," Lucas replied smoothly. Her mother sounded like quite the character.

"Right, _that_," she teased. "Anyway. Tristan and I played Romeo and Juliet once, for an English class. The death scene. My boyfriend at the time was ready to murder him because he got to kiss me. _Conveniently_, on that weekend, Tristan broke into his friend's father's safe, and his own father decided to ship him off to military school in North Carolina." She grinned suddenly, eyeing Lucas.

"What?" he asked warily.

"Isn't that weird?" she asked, happily noting the coincidence. "Tristan moved to North Carolina. You're from North Carolina. I wonder what would happen if you two met…something with the space-time continuum, for sure."

"For sure," Lucas agreed, mock-serious. She looked so innocent and so beautiful.

"So Tristan left," she continued, "right before we were on. Paris had to take his place, and we had to kiss. Paris and I," she repeated. "The girl who currently hates me for _viciously_ taking her spot as editor of the Yale Daily News."

Lucas grinned lasciviously. "So. How was it?"

Her eyes widened and she giggled and she threw her napkin at him. "Boys are so stupid," she muttered with a roll of her eyes. When the moment faded away, she quietly requested, "Time check?"

Lucas consulted his watch. "Ten fifty. I have twenty-five minutes before class."

"I should probably go…" Rory sighed, fixing her eyes on her plate, which had strawberry smears in one or two places.

Lucas matched her subdued tone. "You know where Logan is right now?"

She shrugged. "I'll be able to find him," she said. He noticed that she was still speaking with that assured confidence of a trusting girlfriend, even though she was no longer a girlfriend and definitely not trusting.

"So you're leaving me alone for twenty minutes because…you want to get it over with?"

"I'm going to do it while you're in class. But I need to get ready."

"You look great," he argued. She really did.

Her smile was sly. "Rule number one: when going to confront an ex, you have to look fucking gorgeous."

He raised an eyebrow. "Your mother's rule?"

She nodded.

Lucas shrugged. "Good advice." His phone started to ring. Since he'd just talked to Haley, it was safe to assume that it was Nathan, and he really had no desire to talk to the guy who wanted to kill him, even if he was his brother.

Rory stood up. "I'll let you get that. I guess I'll…see you after."

"Whoa," he said, surprised that she was leaving so quickly and easily. "No, I'm not going to get it. Sit back down. Are you okay?"

Rory dropped back into her chair and gave him a chastising look. "You were right, I have to do this, and I just want to get it…done. Closure. Right?" After his affirmative nod, she continued, "It's hard, and I'm trying not to be scared. But Lucas, if I can tell my ex-boyfriend I thought I was pregnant, then you can start taking those calls you've been ignoring."

He frowned, even though he knew she was right.

"Who're you avoiding?" she asked gently.

"My brother."

"Okay, yeah, my situation definitely sucks more." She nodded toward his phone, which was still ringing. "Pick it up." At Lucas' hesitation, she added, "Pick it up or I'm not moving."

"Blackmail. Nice."

"Foolproof," she countered with a satisfied smile as he pressed the little green button on his phone.

"Hey, Nate, hang on," he said by way of greeting. He set his phone down on the table as she stood up again. He stood, too, and they hugged. "No guesses about it, okay? Come find me after."

Rory smiled for a second. "Okay." Taking a deep breath, she turned and walked off.

Lucas picked back up his phone. Rory glanced at him over her shoulder, partly for reassurance and partly to confirm that he was actually on the phone, he was sure. He waved. "Nathan. Hi."

"Haley told me to call and apologize," his younger brother replied dutifully.

"Heartfelt apology. Thanks."

Nathan groaned. "Look, man…I am sorry. I didn't have a right to get so mad at you. I just…I get so protective when it comes to her, which I know is weird, but…"

Lucas felt a wave of sympathy for Nathan. "It's not weird, bro," he said quietly. "I get it. Believe me. I do." He didn't elaborate. He didn't know how to explain.

In the automated, sporadic voice of someone being told what to say as they said it, Nathan said, "Haley would also like me to ask about the girl you were telling her about." There was a pause, and then he continued, "Haley would also like me not to talk like she's standing right next to me telling me what to say, even though she is."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Do you really want to know, Nate?"

"Haley made me ask!" Nathan cried, sounding like his five-year-old son. "I don't want to know, you're right. But you need to know that I actually am sorry, Luke."

"No, you're not," Lucas said with a tired, fond smile. "But thanks anyway, Nathan."

* * *

Rory's clothes had been flung all over Lucas' room. She reminded herself to apologize to him later. And to clean everything up.

She really needed her mom. Not because she was scared of what she had to do. She was, but that wasn't her problem. She had absolutely no idea what to wear. She needed Lorelai's advice, badly, and she had to admit: the moral support her mom could provide so well wouldn't exactly have been horrible, either.

She tried to channel her mom as she inspected her wardrobe. Wracking her brains trying to remember what drove Logan crazy, she let her fingers drift over several different fabrics…cotton, silk, cashmere. She needed to wear something that she felt comfortable in, but it also had to make her look really, really hot. In other words, it was one of the world's most impossible outfits to put together.

She studied her comfy long-sleeved shirts critically, wishing for something to jump out at her. And, thankfully, it did. It was deep red with a wide scoop neck, a shirt she knew made her shoulders look particularly delicate if she also wore her hair back. It would look good. There was that part of the outfit decided. She tossed off the shirt she currently wore and pulled the red shirt on over her best bra. Her hair went up into an immaculate ponytail, with extra wisps and partial braids giving it a more formal, put-together look – a little bit of the whole hot-librarian thing never hurt.

Her choice of skirt was a well-thought-out decision. Wearing black always made her feel a little more businesslike, so a black skirt it was. Not the pencil skirt she'd worn the previous day, but a black, flippy skirt that was fairly modest and yet somehow made her legs look good. Not only that, but it'd been the skirt she'd worn when she'd gone out to lunch with Logan on the day he'd decided to commit to her as her boyfriend. She hoped that it was trigger memories for him.

"Okay, Rory," she muttered to herself as she picked up her purse. "You can do this. He's just…Logan." Maybe, she reflected, that was the problem.

Like a good girlfriend, she new his schedule. Right now he would normally be at the apartment, pacing and drinking Perrier while he talked to some of his father's (and consequently his own) British colleagues. She would have come home from class a short time ago and collapsed on the couch with a book – sometimes pleasure reading, sometimes a scholastic endeavour – and just relaxed and read as she listened to the pleasant sound of his voice as he talked animatedly.

For a Gilmore girl, someone totally opposed to all forms of athleticism, she managed to walk very quickly, making the walk from the door to her old apartment in record time. She'd been here, what, a day ago? Both times, she had a little trouble breathing in the elevator. She strode down the hallway purposefully and ignored the shaking of her hands as she unlocked the door.

Logan was, as she'd guessed, at home. But he wasn't on the phone. Instead, he was sitting on the couch, glumly watching _TRL_. Even though she was still angry, her heart ached for him, threatening to crack. "Logan," she said softly. "_Total Request Live_, really? You're not very good at this whole wallowing thing."

He stood immediately and spun to face her, and then her heart did crack. The warmth in his eyes, the _love_, was something she hadn't wanted to see. "Ace." He breathed out her name like a prayer.

"Don't," she reminded him yet again.

He looked so sad. So not like the Logan she knew so well. "I'm glad you came," he finally said.

"Yeah. Well." She shrugged. His eyes were moving rapidly over her body, drinking in her appearance, and it made her uncomfortable. She wished she'd showed up in ripped jeans and a t-shirt. "We need to talk."

"Yeah, we do," he agreed wholeheartedly. "Rory, I love you so much, and God, I'm sorry. But you believe me, don't you, when I say that I genuinely thought we were broken up? You don't understand, about that night –"

She held up a hand to stop him before he could go any further. "I'm sorry, when I said we need to talk, I meant that _I _need to talk. You can listen, or I can leave. When I'm done, I'll go, and it's over." This was her closure. This was going to be the end.

"Rory," he sighed, but obliged her, indicating that she should come and sit next to him on the couch.

She sat on the other end of the couch, as far away from him as she could get. "Look, there's something I have to tell you. I don't owe you anything after what you did, but I…did love you, very much, and it's something that you deserve to know." She didn't want to meet his eyes, instead chose to focus on whatever stupid music video was playing on TV.

"Ace," he said quietly, "Look at me."

Hesitantly, she made eye contact, determined to ignore the slight shiver the intimacy in his hazel orbs gave her.

"Tell me." It was an order of the gentlest kind.

"Okay, so, yesterday I ate an apple," she said in a rush. Mentally, she kicked herself. That wasn't the hard part. Logan had no idea what that meant.

"That's…strange…?" he offered uncertainly, smiling the smallest of smiles. An affectionate smile.

"Yeah," she agreed, glad that he at least got that part. "It was strange. Really strange because…I never eat fruit, right? It's a lifestyle thing, but also genetic. My mom doesn't eat fruit, either. The only time she…ever ate fruit…was when…she was pregnant with me." She tore her eyes away from him in an act of self-preservation, fixing her gaze on the girls in plaid minis who were dancing behind some guy with a lot of bling.

"Rory…?"

The inflection in his voice was not what she expected. It was so very unexpected that she ended up looking at him, searching his eyes. She'd been thinking about a Huntzberger reaction. Alarm and anger. Lashing out. Logan looked and sounded shocked, but there was a delicate overtone, one of love and wonderment and tender questioning.

"Ace?" he asked again, his eyes seeming to dig into hers.

"So I thought I was pregnant," she finally said with a shrug, trying and failing to appear careless. "But…I'm not." She felt tears trail down her cheeks and lifted her hands to wipe them away. She hadn't even registered that she needed to cry.

"Rory," Logan said softly.

She buried her face in her hands. "God, I don't even know why I'm crying. It's good. It's a good thing."

He moved closer to her and placed a hand on her back. She didn't have the strength to resist and move away. "Ace. You should have called me. I know you hate me right now, but I would have been there for you."

"It's…it's okay, I had someone." She smiled faintly at the thought of Lucas and his unflagging support. "I was alright."

"It's okay," he soothed as she began to cry harder, still unsure of why she couldn't stop.

"No, I don't…understand, I…I should be happy because it was so scary and I'm not ready to be a mom, not at all, but I was thinking about it…and I almost wanted it," she admitted tearfully, wiping her eyes.

"It wouldn't have been bad."

She turned to face her ex-boyfriend, shocked. "_What_?" she asked in amazed incredulity.

He shrugged, his face open and honest. "I love you, Rory. I want...this is so corny, and I want to kick my own ass for it, but I wanted forever with you. I _want_ forever with you. I always will. I want to have a family with you, Rory. So what if it started out early?"

She couldn't stop staring at him, her mouth open. She couldn't even form a coherent thought of any kind.

"Ace…I really need you to let me explain everything to you. I'm never cheesy, so you know this means something, right?" he asked with a quick smirk. "You're the one for me, and I want everything with you, I –"

Rory cut him off, terrified of what else he might say. "I can't do this," she said, holding up her hands and standing slowly. "I can't. I'm not pregnant; you broke my heart, but I'm over it. I am," she said confidently, suddenly realizing that she really might have been. "I can't have you saying these things to me now because I'm out. It's over." She wrestled the key off of her key chain and handed it to him. "Here. Go and…live you life. Have your fun, but just…be careful," she couldn't resist adding. The part of her that would always love him would always worry about him. "Bye, Logan," she said delicately. With those words, she turned on her heel and marched toward the door.

"Ace." His voice stopped her with her hand on the doorknob. She turned back to him, unable to stop herself. He tossed the key back, and she caught it automatically. His smile was secretive. "It's far from over," he told her.

She sighed, hating herself for the way she practically swooned when she realized that he meant that he was going to fight for her. "Done is done," she whispered firmly. "Rent _Old Yeller _and move on."

She fled from the apartment as fast as her strappy heels would take her.

* * *

Lucas sat down on his bed and picked up his cell. He dialled slowly but certainly.

Caller ID must have informed her of his identity before she picked up the phone, because she greeted him by nickname: "Hey, Broody."

"Hi, Brooke," he said quietly.

"Long time no chat," she commented sarcastically.

"Yeah," he agreed guiltily. "Uh, how've you been?"

"Business is really good. The magazine took off."

Lucas smiled reluctantly, affectionately. "That's great. But I asked how _you've_ been."

"I'm okay." He could actually _hear_ the small, cautious smile. "I met someone."

He was quiet before he asked, "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She cleared her throat. "What about you, Lucas, how've you been?"

"Alright. Yale's…hard. My roommates are crazy, and…um, I met someone, too." It was worse news coming from him, he didn't doubt that for a second.

He was met with stony silence. He sighed tiredly. "Yeah. That's about the reaction I got from Haley at first. Nathan tends to be a little more aggressive."

"Lucas, you complete jerk. If that's how they react, what exactly did you think _I, _of all people, would do? Jump up and down for joy?"

"Damn it, Brooke. Can't I get a break, have a little happiness?"

"You don't want me to answer that."

He fumed internally, but calmed down. He sighed again and rested his head in his free hand. "I'm sorry," he said simply.

Her answer was just as to-the-point. "For what?"

"For hanging up on you the other day," he clarified.

Brooke chuckled mirthlessly. "Luke, there are a lot more important things for you to be sorry for. I have to go. It's good that you called."

"Yeah…sure."

"Take care of yourself," she replied, and then hung up before he could reply.

* * *

Her mind was running even faster than her sore feet.

He wanted to have a family with her? How could he say that? Was he just trying to torture her for leaving him? He'd done enough damage already, with enough people.

_I want to have a family with you, Rory._

Seriously. _Seriously_? Was he out of his idiotic-yet-intelligent mind? Logan Huntzberger, family man. Sure. Well, okay, maybe she had pictured it, once of twice. Her grandparents were thrilled with her relationship with Logan, and had been raving about the children they could have since day one. Of course she'd thought about it, vaguely, briefly. And okay, maybe it had been a good thought, the kind that momentarily took her breath away. But not anymore. That was history, now. She lived it and she was done with it.

The beautiful thing was that she was starting to believe that. When she'd told Logan they were over, she'd meant it. She felt it in her heart. She missed him, but she thought that it could possibly be alright. She was healing, without him, building her resistance to him and the pain he'd caused her. Through her drying tears, she bit back a grin. She was proud of herself. She knew her mom would be too. And…she knew that Lucas was.

She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, considering the circumstances.

Logan had now officially stopped being a part of her life. A chapter of her existence had come to an end.

Lucas had entered her life with some sort of meaning she had yet to understand attached. A new beginning in the saga of Rory Gilmore.

She still had her mother's Jeep, which she really did need to return. She could catch up in her classes, they were the last thing on her mind. She craved some time and space away from the world where she'd built her life with Logan. She longed to be able to bond with Lucas without drama looming over them threateningly.

Rory needed an escape, for just a few days. A little while. A brief but blissful intermission in the movie of her life.

She pulled her shoes off of her blistered feet and walked the rest of the way back to Lucas' dorm barefoot. She was out of there.

* * *

Lucas had returned to his dorm room after class to see that Rory had completely destroyed it. Perhaps _destroyed_ was too harsh a word, but it was a mess. Her clothes were everywhere. He could hardly see his bed, he had no idea where his laptop was, and finding the floor happened mostly by feel.

Somehow, the one thing that'd remained untouched in the room was the mirror, and Rory'd stuck a lime green post-it note to it. _I'm really sorry about the mess. Don't do anything about it – I promise that I'll clean it all up. I'll be back here ASAP. We're watching _Atonement_ tonight, don't try and fight it. You can order whatever you want, but don't you think that Thai sounds good? xxx Rory_

He stood his head at her 'clever' ruse to get him to order the food she wanted. But he had no real complaints about her message – Keira Knightley was gorgeous, and he sure as hell didn't want to clean up Rory's entire wardrobe.

His laptop was buried under two pairs of cords, three camisoles in various colours, and a blazer. Lucas carefully extracted it from the mess and dug out his computer chair, too. He sat down and turned it on. He engaged in his usual staring contest with his blank document for about ten minutes, and then settled in to play solitaire. He was getting a little addicted to the game.

He was just about to beat his best time when Rory burst into the room. When he looked up at her, he was confused by her expression. She'd obviously been crying, and she looked a little broken, but there was also something determined and enthusiastic about her. She was carrying her shoes.

"Hey…how'd it go? Are you okay?" As he asked his questions, she grabbed a duffel bag and started throwing her haphazardly-thrown-all-over-the-place clothing into it. She grabbed a pair of socks, tossed a pair of black pants aside, and snatched up a pair of worn-in jeans.

"Rory? Rory, what happened?" He wondered if cleaning (badly) was her form of catharsis or something. "Rory!" he said loudly, setting his laptop aside and standing to gently grab her arm. She shook him off and carried on with her…whatever she was doing.

"_Rory!_" he said again, grabbing both of her arms a little more forcefully. Her blue eyes were shiny from tears and something he couldn't place. "Hey," he said more softly. "Talk to me. What happened?"

She shook her head adamantly, this time carefully, kindly extracting herself from his grip. "Not yet. Can't talk about it yet," she said shortly, using only the most essential words.

He understood. "Okay. Let's just sit down, though, okay? We'll rent the movie and I'll order the food."

She was still shaking her head. "No movie," she said as she threw three books into her bag and zipped it up with finality. "No food."

Those were two things he'd certainly never expected to hear come from her. "Rory…what are you _doing_? What's going on? Did Logan say something…?"

Rory grabbed another duffel and thrust it at him. The glint in her eyes was there because of tears, but there was also something adventurous going on in her blue orbs. "Pack your stuff," she said with a weak but genuine grin. "We're goin' to the Hollow."


	13. Proximity

**A/N: **My reviews dropped pretty significantly, and my muse wasn't cooperating with me - those are the only reasons I can give you for the length of time you had to wait for this update. My head's been lost in _Crescendo_, my other story, lately. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Stars Hollow offers a protective little bubble from the world, but don't worry: **Logan will be back, and the girl from Lucas' past, whoever she may be, isn't exactly going to disappear either_. _**Read on and please review.

Worried about Rory and whatever emotional state she was in, Lucas offered to drive, but she refused. "This car is my mom's," she told him, "and therefore has a personality. It doesn't like to be driven by guys." She pouted at his resulting expression. "Don't look at me like that. It's not crazy."

"Of course not."

Rory threw their light luggage in the back and closed her door. She started the car and readjusted the rearview mirror. "So, what are good road trip snacks?"

"I don't know. Haley would say sandwiches and chips."

Rory drove right through a stop sign, distracted and alarmed as she looked at him. "Who's Haley?" she asked curiously, as though he were about to reveal one of his life's biggest secrets.

"My best friend."

"Ah…your _best friend_. Gotcha."

Lucas chuckled. "She's married to my brother. They have a kid."

"Oh, so she's your best friend. Well. She's an amateur," Rory told him, not unkindly. Her tone was matter-of-fact. "_Tacos_ are good road trip snacks. We need to make a stop at Hector's."

"Hector's?"

"Only the best taco place on the East Coast, conveniently and magically located in New Haven."

Lucas smiled at how happy she could get just from the thought of a taco. He kept quiet, allowing her to blast the radio (which was playing Aerosmith) while she sped through the fairly peaceful streets of the town. She halted the car abruptly in front of Hector's and ordered him out of the car.

"Let's move," Rory lectured as she breezed through the door.

She was greeted by all the staff members by name. The elderly man gave her a fatherly hug and the two young women chirped happy greetings. The younger man looked as though his dream had just walked through the door, but he quickly got it together and welcomed her with a smooth, "Hey, beautiful."

Rory patted his cheek briefly, rewarding him with an endearing, nearly flirtatious smile. "Get me ten to go, would ya, Rico?"

"Anything for you, gorgeous."

Lucas watched in amazement as Rory dropped an eyelid in a sly wink, purring, "Thanks, honey."

As Rico wandered off in a daze, the young women broke into giggles and said, "You're cruel to him, Rory."

The old man shook his head. "Not as bad as your mother."

"Where _is_ Lorelai?" one of the girls asked with an inquisitive smile.

"Never mind that, Lisa, the more important question is: where's Rory?"

Rory lifted her eyebrows, her smile full of sweet innocence. "What do you mean, Hector?"

"I know you're busy with your education, and of course that comes first. We never saw you on any sort of a regular basis, Rory, but you've certainly been a stranger lately."

Lucas could actually _read_ it in the way Rory's body language changed, the subtle ways she closed off and shut down. Logan's influence. That was undoubtedly what had cut back on her stops to the little taco joint she clearly adored. She had found something here, in these people, that put her at ease. When Logan entered her life, she no longer wanted or needed it. That gave Logan credit – he had cleared a void in the life of the woman he loved. But it also gave him demerits; his lifestyle had pulled Rory away from something else that she had loved.

"I'm sorry," Rory said softly, and Lucas didn't know who she was talking to anymore. He doubted that she did, either.

"Hector, don't make her feel bad," Lisa lectured, searching for a more neutral topic. "Hey!" she cried when she spotted Lucas. "Rory brought a hottie!"

"Lisa," Rory groaned, visibly relaxing – but only a little.

"What's your name, hottie?"

Lucas grinned modestly. "Luke."

"Hm." She snatched up a napkin and scribbled something on it. She picked it up and dangled it in front of him teasingly, and devilish smile playing on her lips. "Give me a call if things don't work out with Rory, Luke."

"Lisa," Rory warned, giving her a stern look.

In return, the other girl simply rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Rory. Like he ever would. I see the way you look at her," she told Lucas, raising her eyebrows.

Lucas winced as Rory shifted uncomfortably, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. She looked down shyly and an awkward silence fell over them all. He struggled to think of a new topic. Gas prices. Pelicans. He would discuss anything at this point.

Thankfully, Rico wandered back in at that moment with two takeout bags. "Here you go, darling. I threw in an extra because that's how much I love you."

"Thank you, handsome," Rory returned, easing back in to her playful teasing effortlessly. "What do I owe you, Hector?"

"It's on the house," the elderly man said simply.

"No! No. Let me pay."

The two of them stared at each other for a good two minutes while Lucas and the rest of the staff observed. Finally, Hector relented, "You pay for seven of them. Final offer."

Rory frowned. "Why seven?" she pouted.

He frowned back. "Hey, I don't have to take your money."

Rory considered, tilting her head to the side. "Hey," she hissed at Lucas out of the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah?" he asked her with a puzzled smile.

"How fast ran you run?"

He laughed. "Rory, I play basketball," he reminded her kindly.

"Right. Okay. On three."

"Wait – what?"

"On _three_." She waited for a moment, while everyone stared at her. Then, in one swift, simultaneous movement, she grabbed the bags of tacos, tossed all the money she owed (and probably more, from the looks of it) onto the counter, kissed Rico's cheek, and bolted out the door, screaming, "Three!"

Lucas considered himself fairly smart, but it actually took him a moment to realize that she intended for them to run. With a quick, awkward smile at the people he'd met minutes ago, he took off after her. It didn't take any work to catch up; Rory ran a little awkwardly, and certainly not quickly. "_What_ was that?" he questioned once they were in the car.

"Shh!" she cried, jamming the keys into the ignition and starting the car before peeling out of her parking spot.

Hector appeared on the sidewalk, shaking his head. "You come back soon, Rory!"

"I will!" she yelled back through her window before speeding away, giggling.

"Have you lost your mind?" Lucas asked her. She looked so happy and breezy in that moment. He felt like he was being introduced to a more real version of the drama queen he'd been helping out over the past few days.

"Maybe," she shrugged, still giggling.

* * *

Rory felt very restless on the road. After a while, Lucas insisted that she stop touching the radio – her hurried driving made him want for her to focus solely on where she was going, and he joked that the constant change in music was making him dizzy.

Stars Hollow was not excessively far from New Haven, but it wasn't until they were halfway there that Rory realized exactly what they were doing, and she panicked. "Oh, my God!"

Lucas jumped in his seat. Her driving seemed to be frightening him, which she had to admit was understandable. "What?" he asked, matching her harried tone.

"I didn't even think about you, Lucas. I'm so sorry. I'm skipping classes – which I never do, by the way – but you're new, and you should be going to school. I'm so sorry. Really, Lucas. I've been really selfish. I can't just expect you to skip town with me. We'll turn around. She was embarrassed. She'd just lost her boy, and she was trying to fill the void with Lucas. It wasn't fair to him. It was a ridiculous expectation.

He placed a calming hand on her elbow. The feeling of his large, warm hard on her skin relaxed her instantly. With that infinite understanding that never ceased to amaze her, he said, "Hey, it's okay. Grades aren't all that matter. This is spontaneous and…fun. It's only for a couple days, right?"

Rory nodded wordlessly.

"So then it's fine. I'd love to meet your mom."

She smirked as she switched lanes, easing up on the gas. You're a brave one, Lucas Scott," she chuckled. Lorelai was fun-loving and fast-paced: very easy to like. It came as a shock when one encountered her serious side. Lucas, as they guy travelling with her, would undoubtedly face her mother's scariest side.

"Hell yeah, I'm brave," Lucas agreed with a teasing smile. "I'm driving with you, aren't I?"

"Hey!" she protested, giggling. "I am _so_ not a bad driver."

"I think you're just a little hyped up right now…it's like you're trying to prove something to the road."

"Shut up and eat a taco."

"I've already eaten three."

"You've eaten three? _Only_ three? Fine, you big baby, I'll eat your other two."

He shook his head. "Have I ever told you what a mystery you are?"

Rory's heart fluttered and she struggled to keep her attention on her driving. "Funny you should say that," she commented, purposefully keeping her voice light. She chanced a quick glance in his direction. "You know me better than almost anyone."

* * *

Lucas took in the scenery as Rory sailed through the picturesque town square. Five little girls in sunflower costumes skipped out of a dance studio, poking each other and giggling sweetly. A blissful-looking couple cuddled on the bench in the gazebo. Two women pushing strollers laughed with the mailman. It was the kind of town Lucas thought existed only in movies and storybooks. He too came from a small town, but it was full of dramatic anxiety, not sugary quaintness.

"Wow," he muttered.

Rory didn't reply. He wasn't even sure if she'd heard him. Her concentration was on her destination. The Dragonfly Inn was gorgeous and charming, but Lucas didn't have much time to observe its exterior. Rory parked haphazardly and broke into a run when she exited the car, tripping up the steps to the inn and bursting through the doors. Lucas had to jog to keep up with her, just catching the door that she left swinging open before it hit him in the face.

They stepped inside together, and his observation of the welcoming entryway was interrupted by Rory's relief-filled cry of, "Mom!"

The woman standing in the front desk in a sky blue blouse and pinstriped pants looked up, her expression hopeful, but not pitifully so. There was a palpable strength about her, but a playfulness, too. She had long mahogany hair that fell down her back and the same noteworthy blue eyes as her daughter. She exhaled and looked like she wanted to cry. "Oh, my baby!" she said, rushing out from behind the desk to fling her arms around her daughter.

Lucas watched as she closed her eyes, clinging tightly to Rory. She blew out a breath and pressed her lips firmly against her daughter's head. They broke apart after a full minute, and Lorelai gazed at Rory with tears in her eyes. "Oh, honey," she breathed. "I missed you, sweets."

He couldn't see Rory's face, but he could tell by her voice that she, too, was crying. "You too, Mom."

They both turned to face him, keeping their arms wrapped around each other. Rory smiled contentedly at him from Lorelai's hold. She looked relieved; he could tell how safe she felt both in her hometown and her mother's embrace.

"Ah," Lorelai said safely, eyeing him. "You brought Tristan two-point-oh. Otherwise known as Lucas," she added with a small smile and she detangled one arm from her grasp on her daughter and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you."

She had a firm, confident handshake, he noticed. "Likewise," was his reply.

"Thank you for taking care of my girl," she said quietly, running her fingers through Rory's hair. "So good to have you home kid," she murmured before smiling at them both. "I've got to finish up here, okay? Sookie will make you something to eat. Lucas, we can hook you up with a room here."

He opened his mouth to thank her, but Rory spoke first: "He can stay with us, can't he?"

Lorelai looked a little alarmed as her eyes searched her child's face. "Sure, babe," she said slowly, "if he's just dying to sleep on our super-uncomfortable couch." She arched an eyebrow in Lucas' direction.

"Anything's fine," he responded agreeably.

"It'll be better," Rory insisted. "We'll eat, and then I can give Lucas a tour of the town as we walk back home. I'll leave the Jeep with you – sorry for stealing it. The keys are still in the ignition."

"Okay, sweets." Lucas noticed the calculation and realization in Lorelai's eyes as she spoke, but he had no idea what conclusions she was drawing. "I'll be back home later and we'll talk, okay? We'll get _Casablanca_ and candy. Oh, honey," she said, pulling Rory into another warm hug. "You're home. I'm here. Everything's gonna be okay."

Rory smiled back gratefully. "I know." Her words were quiet but full of conviction.

Lucas immediately spotted the shock in Lorelai's expression at her daughter's words. She'd clearly expected Rory to show up so broken that only she, Lorelai, could help fix her. She was prepared to take charge and take care, to restore Rory's strength…but Rory had made progress without her. She wasn't completely helpless.

"Okay," was Lorelai's whispered reply. Her smile was pretty and loving, but a little forced. "Take your boy toy and go grab some grub!" she told Rory, reluctantly pushing her away. She bit down on her lip as Rory grabbed Lucas' hand and pulled him after her. Rory remained blissfully oblivious to the sadness and loss her mother was experiencing, but Lucas noticed it all.

Rory pulled him into the inn's spacious, scrumptiously scented kitchen, crying, "Sookie!"

The chef turned around and beamed. "Rory! Popcorn, I missed you!" The women hugged, and then she asked, "How _are_ you, honey? You must need chocolate, right? Who's your friend? What can I make for you?"

Lucas smiled softly, noticing that Rory, too, was beaming as she said, "This is Lucas Scott. Lucas, meet the best chef in the world, Sookie St. James."

"Nice to meet you," Lucas said politely.

"You, too, Lucas," she said, giving him a subtle once-over. It was partially friendly, the way a buddy would check out your pick of guy, but also maternal, as though she was wondering if he was good enough for the town's treasured girl. "What can I get you?" she asked cheerfully, no signs of the result of her assessment in her pleasant expression.

"I…well, we just ate, so…"

Rory took over. "Anything's good, Sookie, I trust you."

Sookie grinned. "Okay, go sit down, I'll send out some coffee for you and your hunk," she said, raising her eyebrows.

"Sookie," Rory protested with a blush.

"Statement of fact, chicken. Go sit!"

Lucas followed Rory obediently into the nicely decorated dining room, with fleur-de-lis wallpaper and wicker chairs. Rory picked a table and sat down, smiling at the waiters who greeted her fondly by name. "Hey, so can I ask you something?" he asked as they slipped into their chairs.

"Of course."

"Why're you making your poor _hunk_ sleep on your uncomfortable couch? Are you trying to toughen me up so that I can eat more tacos?" he joked around, but he knew that she could tell that he wanted a serious response.

Her cheeks reddened even more as she shook her napkin out daintily before laying it across her neck. "I, um…I'm sorry. You can stay here if you want, I'll just tell Mom."

"Evasive," he commented simply, his eyes boring into hers.

Her voice was barely a whisper, "I like having you close to me." She cleared her throat, obviously embarrassed, "God, I'm sorry, I'm such a baby, you've just sort of become my…security blanket, I guess. I shouldn't need you. I have no right to, but…I like having you around," she shrugged helplessly, meeting his eyes hesitantly.

He sighed heavily. He wanted to let it go and assure her that he was fine being her safety blanket, but this had gone on too long. "Rory. What're we doing?"

She looked back down at her lap. "I don't know. I don't know, and I'm sorry. I don't mean to…I just…I don't know. I can't help it." She met his eyes again. "No matter what I…feel, or I think, I…you're my friend, okay? That's all it is."

_That's all it can be_, was what she was really saying, and Lucas could understand that. Her last relationship had just fallen apart. Really, there couldn't be anything between them. He wouldn't feel good about it, either. Well, it'd be amazing, but it would be wrong in a nagging way that, if he were a good guy, he wouldn't be able to ignore.

A waiter appeared, chatted briefly with Rory, and left them with coffee and biscotti. Rory gulped down her entire mug within seconds. "So," she said, her tone falsely bright. "You want to stay here, at the inn, then?"

He looked sadly back at her, wishing that he could be a better person. "No. I don't."

* * *

"And _that_ is Miss Patty's, where I took countless dance and baton twirling classes in my childhood," Rory told Lucas, giving him her best smile as she spoke.

"You good at any of that?"

She giggled. "Um. No. I'm kind of a huge klutz. But anyway…" She babbled on about her town with pride clear in every word her prettily musical voice spoke confidently, but his close physical proximity was messing with her brain.

She wasn't used to feeling like she did. With her three previous boyfriends, her infatuation stemmed from arguments – with Dean, it was brief annoyance; with Jess, playful camaraderie that frustrated her; with Logan, his I-rule-the-world and I'm-God's-gift-to-women attitude. Lucas was just so different. The first words he'd said to her had annoyed her the slightest bit, when he'd teased her about calling him God, but there was such sincerity behind the things he said that she pretty much adored him instantly.

He didn't know her, and yet he did. Days of looking after her, of taking care of her, had given him insight into her life and gained her infinite trust. In the shortest period of time, she'd come to a point where she couldn't imagine her life without him.

She refocused her attention on her beloved hometown, coming to a standstill in front of the establishment where she'd eaten most of her meals in life. "This," she said with a significant pause, "is Luke's."

"I see that," Lucas said, nodding as he pointed to the large sign. "This must be your Mom's fiancé's diner?"

"Yeah," she grinned, adding teasingly, "The other Luke in my life. C'mon, do you want a muffin or something?" she asked, reaching for his hand without even thinking about it.

He looked troubled and she instantly dropped his hand, feeling the blush rise to her cheeks. "Wow, sorry, I wasn't…thinking." She cleared her throat nervously. He didn't stop giving her that strange look. "What? she asked hesitantly, unsure that she even wanted to know his answer. The look he was giving her was just so weird.

"No, the hand thing was…good. I mean, fine. I just…that's not what I was talking about."

He looked so sweet when he was flustered. She tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows. "So what is it?" she asked innocently.

"We just ate…twice. And you ate twice as much as I did, and I'm no math whiz, but I really do think you've eaten about four meals in the past couple hours."

She smirked internally at his naïveté when it came to the Gilmore diet, even after suffering through her pregnancy scare with her. "But I'm _hungry_," she pouted, batting her eyelashes.

"Biologically impossible," he said with his incredulous stare still in place.

"Uh-huh," she laughed, intertwining her fingers with his again and casting him a flirtatious glance that she just couldn't help. "Come _on_, I'll let you buy me coffee, too."

She loved the way Luke's face grudgingly lit up when he set eyes on her, the way he gruffly exclaimed, "Rory!" and instantly reached for a mug to fill with her beverage of choice.

She all but skipped over to the counter, chirping, "Hi!" before leaning over the counter to kiss his cheek, grinning at how it embarrassed him. "What's up? How's business? How's April?"

"Both are good," he replied evenly, a man of few words, as he'd always been. His eyes traveled over her face, subtlety checking to see how she was doing after the Logan debacle. She squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze. That was the last place she wanted her thoughts to wander.

Her movements caused his eyes to move further, travelling down her right arm and resting, in uneasy surprise, on the hand she clasped like a lifeline. "Who's your friend?" he asked as casually as a man as protective of her as he was could, critically eyeing Lucas.

"Luke, meet Luke," she said in a pleasant tone, hoping to encourage Luke's approval. "But I call him Lucas to avoid any mix-ups."

To his credit, Lucas released her hand and extended his toward the most prominent father figure in her life. "It's really great to meet you. Rory talks about you all the time, she really loves you."

Luke blushed, his eyes darting over to Rory for a moment. She smiled at him, gently sliding the fingers of her now-free hand together until they were crossed. She'd never before wanted Luke to like someone so badly.

"Good to meet you, too," was all he said as he shook Lucas' hand, and she let out a relieved breath. It was enough. He jerked his chin toward Rory's steaming cup of coffee. "You an addict, too?" he asked Lucas.

He shook his head. "No. My mom runs a café, actually, but I never got into it." He tilted his head toward Rory and shot her a smile that she instantly returned. "This one should quit."

Luke gave a single nod of approval. "I couldn't agree more."

"Never gonna happen," Rory said softly, looking back and forth between the two of them. Luke was still looking at her, concern buried in his eyes.

"How're you holding up?" he asked her quietly as he set a sandwhich in front of another customer sitting at the counter.

She lifted her chin confidently, her clear blue orbs darting to the boy sitting next to her for a moment. "I'm going to be fine," she assured Luke.

She could tell that he'd seen her glance at Lucas. He nodded slowly, piecing everything together. "I'm glad," was all her said, but a beautifully grateful smile found its way to her lips and she told him a silent thank you with her eyes. She'd finally found a boy that Luke could like.

And it made her happier than it should have, because as she sat there, secure in her life and her parental figure and someone she thought she could love, she forgot that Lucas was not supposed to be an option.

**A/N: **Reviews seriously mean more updates.


	14. Snowfall

**A/N:** If there is even anyone who cares about this story anymore after I've neglected it for so long: _I'm sorry_. I don't have any excuses other than real life, really, and a lack of inspiration. But I still love this story, and I still plan on finishing it - I'm expecting it to be somewhere between 25 and 30 chapters long, so we're probably about halfway there right about now. I have it all planned out, now I just have to write it! And just a quick note: break lines don't seem to want to work for me lately, so I've inserted '-x-' where those should be, just to indicate a time lapse or a change of POV. Read on.

Bunny-print sheets.

Lucas had slept on floors, in tents, in the back of cars, in a bed made with Egyptian-cotton sheets in his ass of a father's home, on air mattresses…but never had he slept on sheets decorated with small, baby blue, purple-dress-wearing, dancing bunnies.

Rory had whipped them out proudly with one of the brightest smiles he'd seen her wear since the Logan/possible baby debacle. There was something slightly mischievous about her smile that made him suspect that she knew exactly how much she was torturing him…and also that, when she was wearing that smile that made her blue eyes glow so much, he just couldn't say no to her.

To trump the girly-ness and the humiliation of his bed sheets, Lorelai had come downstairs and presented to him – with a flourish, no less – an NSYNC comforter, with a great big picture of the band on it. Wearing the same smile as her daughter, she'd sung out, "Sleep tight."

"Do your sheets scare you?" Rory asked him teasingly, snapping him out of his thoughts. She was wearing pyjama pants and a lightweight, hooded sweater, leaning in the archway between the kitchen and the living room of her sweet, small-town home.

"In all honesty?" he asked, cupping the back of his neck with his hand, "Yeah, I am, a little bit."

She laughed lightly, walking over to him and resting her hand on his arm. "We don't exactly have macho sheets in this house."

He grinned back. "I think you've underestimated me."

She bit down on her lower lip. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, definitely."

"Explain yourself."

"You see, Rory," he said as if he intended to tell her an important story or give some sort of serious lecture. "I can make even bunny-print sheets look good."

Rory rolled her eyes at his declaration. "I'd say that I'd like to see you try…but I'm not sure what I would be getting into."

Lucas stared right into her eyes, and lustful blue encountered lustful blue. It was funny, he couldn't help but think. He'd never actually dated someone with the same colour eyes as he had, and maybe that was what made the pulse of sexual tension that passed between them even more intense. "Yeah…" he said, swallowing hard. "I don't think you'd want to know."

The moment was broken by the sound of someone purposefully clearing their throats, and both pairs of blue eyes flew to the stairs, where Rory's mother stood, arms crossed over her chest. She arched a single eyebrow, and Rory groaned lightly. "_Mom_."

Lorelai gave her a pointed look. "As much as I love watching my daughter kinda-sorta flirt with the guy she randomly showed up with today…I think it's time for you kids to get some sleep, and in your completely separate sleeping areas." She walked down the last few steps and hooked her arm through her daughter's. Even though Rory was exasperated, their was a comfort, a sense of love, in the glance that she threw her mother's way.

"Goodnight," Rory said softly, sounding suddenly demure and yet also coy. It was clear that she wanted to say a lot more with that word, but she couldn't.

"Thanks for brining my girl home," Lorelai told Lucas earnestly, but there was still something guarded in her eyes. "If that couch doesn't kill you, you're welcome to a room at my inn tomorrow."

He smiled back at her. "Thanks. For…"

Her smile grew to its full potential, entirely genuine. "You're welcome," she told him gently.

He watched them walk off into the kitchen together, heads bent close. As a writer, he found Lorelai intriguing. Lucas grew up with a young mother, but there was something more firm and a bit more naturally maternal about Karen Roe. Lorelai was young and hip, quirky and friendly, but also protective and self-sacrificing. When the two of them stood together, the Gilmore girls, there was something untouchable about a bubble that they created around themselves. But then Rory would smile at him and he would think that maybe, just maybe, she could trust him enough to let him get in, too.

-x-

"Okay, kid," Lorelai said with a sense of finality in her voice. "Why don't you sit, okay? I'll make tons and tons of coffee, and crack open a new bag of marshmallows…and we'll talk about all this."

Rory looked over at her mother apologetically. She was impossibly happy to be home; she just felt so secure. Logan had spent little time in Stars Hollow, so it was a place free of memories relating to her recently-ended relationship. Her heart still ached for him, at least a little bit, and being in home most definitely helped soothe the pain. And best of all, Lucas didn't seem out of place at all, sleeping on the couch on their crazy sheets.

She took a deep breath in. "Mom…I'm so exhausted. I was hoping I could just sleep tonight. I brought tacos, they're in the fridge…we can do this tomorrow."

Lorelai set down her coffee mug, and Rory squirmed under her worried gaze. "Honey, I'm…concerned about you."

"Mom…"

"No, Rory, seriously…I don't…I don't understand. This isn't you."

Rory sighed. She had to tell her mother everything, and part of her was dying to…but an even bigger part of her was dreading it. Lorelai and Logan were not subjects that mixed easily; Lorelai and pregnancy were an even worse combination. She'd felt happy when she'd arrived there earlier, and all she wanted to do was put on her goofily-printed PJs and crawl into bed with Colonel Clucker, the toy rooster she'd had all her life. She wasn't ready to talk to Lorelai, not yet. "Mom, you don't know everything about me."

Lorelai walked over, sitting down across from her. "I feel like…this breakup with Logan has changed you, and…"

"Mom," Rory sighed, smiling softly. "I'm still me. And I'm okay."

"Sweetie," Lorelai said with her own sigh. "You show up here days after you have a huge fight with your boyfriend at your grandparents' house – which you are going to have to deal with, by the way, Emily's already yelled at me enough to last of, another two days or until my next mistake, whichever comes next – and then you show up here a few days later with this strange boy and a smile on your face but…honey, I know you, and I know those eyes…" She tilted her daughter's chin up. "You're keeping things from me, babe, and you know I can't stand that."

"Nothing drastic," Rory assured her quietly. "Mom…please?"

Her mother nodded hesitantly. "Tomorrow night, then, okay? We'll watch _Casablanca_ with your…guy…and then he can entertain himself while you and I _talk_. Sound okay?"

Instead of answering, Rory wrapped her arms around her mother. "I love you."

She felt Lorelai press a kiss to her temple and hug her just a bit tighter, and Rory gave into the comfort of the embrace. "I love you, too, kid."

-x-

"Lucas…_Lucas_," Rory's voice hissed in Lucas' ear the next morning, and he groaned, waving his hand in the air as if to bat her away.

"Five more minutes," he muttered.

"No, get up," she insisted, shaking his shoulder. "Right now, get up!"

He frowned, attempting to pull the blankets over his head, but she yanked them back. "Lucas Scott, get up _right now_."

He squinted up at her through bleary eyes. "Or what?"

Rory scowled – clearly she didn't have any sort of witty response prepared for that comment. "Would you just get up already?"

"I would really actually rather…not."

She pulled the covers off of him, making him groan and open his eyes fully. It was then that they both realized that he was wearing nothing more than his boxers, and they both stopped moving. He watched Rory's eyes travel down his body, patiently waiting for some sort of reaction. She shook her head, as if to clear it of the image of his body, and he couldn't help but smirk.

"Come on," she said quietly, her cheeks a little bit red. "Get up and follow me."

He sighed dramatically and accepted her extended hand, following her toward the door. She was wearing her pyjamas and her hair was sticking up in several directions; she looked adorable. He was so caught up in that thought that he didn't realize that Rory had dragged him _outside_, onto her porch.

"What the hell?" he cried.

"Shh!" she said giddily. "You'll wake up my mom!"

"What are we _doing_?" he demanded.

She pointed toward the sky as if it were obvious. "It's snowing."

And it was, big white flakes floating down around them, moving slowly through the ice-cold air. "Rory Gilmore, I think you might be crazy."

She tilted her head back and caught a snowflake on her tongue. She swallowed, shivered, and then turned to look at him, arching an eyebrow confidently. "And I think you might actually like it."

Lucas couldn't deny that and he looked down instead. That was when he noticed that they were standing in snow, and both of them had nothing on their feet. "You're going to freeze, let's go in."

She just shrugged, staring out into the winter wonderland. "Some things are just worth the risk."

"C'mere," he sighed as though exasperated, but he was honestly more enthralled with her than anything else. She placed both of her hands in his, shooting him a questioning glance which he did not respond to. Gently he tugged at her hands, upward and toward him, and she got the hint. Lacing her fingers through his for support, she stepped up and onto the tops of his feet, protecting her from own from the snow.

With her standing on his feet, they were pretty much the same height. They maintained a careful balance, grasping each other's hands tightly. And then, in that moment, maybe because of the way the image of the snowflakes dancing in the sky was reflected in her eyes, numbing his brain, he leaned in, and he kissed her.

-x-

"_No_," Lucas groaned, his pout playful but his disappointment serious. "No _way_."

April grinned, punching her fist into the air triumphantly. "I win," she declared happily.

Rory smiled indulgently. Hanging out with April wasn't exactly something she had Luke's complete blessing to do, and it wasn't Lorelai's preferred activity for her to partake in either, but she really did adore the twelve-year-old, who was even quirkier than she herself had been at that age.

"So what do I owe you?" she asked grudgingly, a playful smile gracing her lips. She'd played Risk with April and Lucas, and April had completely obliterated them despite the countless alliances she and Lucas had made in a desperate effort to maintain a little dignity.

"Two donuts. Cough 'em up."

Rory forked over the cash for the treats and April cleared off the board with a smooth sweep of her hand. "Wanna play again?" she asked.

Rory lifted her eyebrows and looked over to Lucas, expecting him to share her amusement, but he appeared to be lost in thought. She nudged him gently, but didn't pull back, allowing her arm to rest against his. "You alright?" she asked softly.

He snapped back to life and gave her a smile. "Of course I'm not. I just got my ass kicked by a twelve-year-old."

Rory smiled back, but she knew that it didn't reach her eyes. That wasn't what she wanted as an answer. Lucas knew that, but he still hadn't been honest with her. Lucas had shared a lot with her, but he still seemed so mysterious at times. Rory had to admit that she found it attractive, but she wanted to know _more_. Lucas had seen her at her _most_ vulnerable – heartbroken and possibly pregnant. Lucas had saved her. She was transparent to him now. She was comfortable with it; she just wished that she could know him to the same extent.

They hadn't talked about that morning's kiss. Afterward, she'd been slightly shocked and had tumbled off of his feet. Lorelai had heard them moving about and joined them on the snowy porch, bringing jackets, blankets, boots, and of course, coffee.

Rory tended to overanalyze her relationships, or at least analyze them to some extent. She liked to know where things stood, how both parties felt, where things were going. She liked to be on the same page with people. Normally, she would need to discuss an utterly spontaneous kiss that happened early in the morning just outside her childhood home, but for some reason, the fact that they hadn't discussed it felt…right. As though they were allowed to want something they shouldn't as long as they never really talked about it.

And for the first time in her life, that seemed like it might be okay.

-x-

Lucas leaned back in his chair and took a sip from the cup of coffee Rory had insisted on buying for him. He was comfortable as he sat there with the warm beverage in his hands, half tuned in to the conversation Rory and April were having about a book series they'd both read as little kids.

In his peripheral vision, he could see Lorelai at the counter with a large mug cupped in her hands, her crazily patterned scarf still around her neck. She'd been subtly spying on them the whole time. Luke leaned toward her, best she was too focused on Rory to notice.

"What're you doing?" Luke demanded, making Lorelai jump. Coffee sloshed over the rim of her cup.

"Jeez!" Lorelai gasped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" She grabbed a napkin to clean up the mess.

"I didn't sneak up on you. You just didn't notice me because you were spying."

"I wasn't!"

"You were staring," Luke reported gruffly.

"I was _not_! I was…observing."

"Rory's a smart girl," Luke said, so quietly that Lucas almost didn't hear him.

"Wh – huh – bu – _Luke_!" Lorelai cried. "What have you done with my fiancé?"

"Lorelai," he sighed.

"_Where_," she interrupted him, "is the man who insisted that Rory deserved _nothing_ short of Prince Charming? _Where_ is the man who wanted to kick the ass of every boy who came within two feet of her? _Where _is the man who went crazy to protect that little girl's heart?"

"You're being dramatic."

"Honey, have you _met _me?" Lorelai asked pointedly.

"She's not a little girl anymore."

"Stop, she is."

"She's not, and you need to trust her to make her own decisions."

"Last time I sat back and let her make her decisions she _dropped_ out of _Yale_."

Lucas' eyebrows shot up at that, and his startled blue orbs darted over to Rory. She was playfully debating something with April. In the ultra-short time he'd known her, Rory had only attended one class, but she'd demonstrated a lot of literary intelligence and a simple joy that knowledge brought her. She reminded Lucas of Haley: meant to learn. He couldn't believe that Rory would ever quit school.

"But she went _back_," Luke said soothingly. "Rory knows how to fix her mistakes."

"Rory doesn't think straight when she's upset. I'm just trying to protect her."

"She's okay."

"That's the thing, Luke, she look it, but she's _not_. I know my daughter. She just broke up with her boyfriend and we haven't even talked about it yet. And she just shows up with this _boy_…" she trailed off, sighing. "Do you like him?"

"He seems…nice. Respectful. I like him more than that Logan kid."

"He's a sweetheart," Lorelai said softly. "He's been taking care of her, they have a lot in common, and he's got these fabulously _intense_ eyes…Luke, he…he's her _rebound_ and that scares the hell out of me 'cause Rory's not a rebound kind of girl and because I look at that kid with his broody face and all his kindness and think that he could be her _guy_."

Lucas froze at her words, but didn't allow himself to think too much.

"Wait," Luke said firmly. "Rory's only twenty-one, and they're just friends."

Lorelai scoffed. "The sexual tension alone between those two is enough to freak me out, but throw in their emotional connection…that terrifies me." When she spoke again, there were tears in her voice: "He can take care of her. I know…that that should make me happy, but it scares me."

There was an understanding silence that lasted nearly three minutes before Luke gently said, "I'll get you some pie."

"Two pieces, please," she requested quietly.

Lucas swallowed hard as he mulled over what Lorelai had just said. He had contemplated the future before, and it had seemed so easy and blissful. But when that future was denied to him, the concept of 'forever' grew distant, fuzzy and frightening in his mind. Lucas had seen proof that love could live forever, but he didn't know if he was destined for such a thing. Lorelai thought he was right for Rory, and she'd know him for a single day. She felt it so powerfully that it scared her.

And it scared him, too. He'd left Tree Hill for a reprieve from all the drama. Rory had brought exactly what he'd been trying to avoid back into his life…and he'd welcomed it.

Rory had a lot of stressful things happening in her life, but between them…when it was not Lucas, or Rory, but Lucas _and_ Rory…things were so peaceful and easy.

She must have sensed his staring because her eyes found his.

Lucas' relationship history was dominated by two girls. One would have kinked her eyebrows and batted her eyelashes. The other would have given him a searching look and a playful wink.

Rory just looked at him, wearing a half smile, her gaze soft and unwavering. Lucas returned the small grin, relaxing again. His mildly panicked train of thought faded away and he lost himself to the moment.

Deep within her brilliant baby blues, he caught the faintest glimpse of _always_.

**A/N: **If you are still reading, I would really love a review, just to let me know that somebody's still paying attention. And if any of you and wondering why I've left out most of the OTH characters...that's just so far. They're going to come into play much more in the future. Thanks for reading, and I am going to try really, really hard to update within the next couple weeks rather than the next couple months.


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